FirstAlerts
Natural DisastersVersion 5

Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake Prompts Tsunami Warning That Was Later Lifted

Indonesian authorities warned parts of four provinces after the quake, recorded at a depth of 10 kilometers, then withdrew the warning; Australia's tsunami warning center reported no threat to its mainland or territories.

3 reports on this incident · first at Aug 15, 2026, 10:23 p.m. ET

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 14, 2026, 3:19 p.m. ETUpdated Aug 19, 2026, 6:23 p.m. ET
A magnitude 7.7 occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to reports from kesq.com, krdo.com, nbcnewyork.com, newindianexpress.com and upi.com. The material available for this report does not establish when the struck or where its epicenter was located. Readers should treat both the origin time and the epicenter as unconfirmed here: no time, coordinates or place name is carried in the record this story is drawn from, and none is supplied below. What the record does document is the tsunami response. "Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces," according to the reporting from upi.com, krdo.com, nbcnewyork.com, newindianexpress.com and kesq.com. That warning was later lifted; the same reporting describes it variously as an "initial tsunami warning, later lifted" and as "tsunami warnings issued and later lifted." Australia's tsunami warning center said "the undersea will have no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories," according to the cited reports. The tsunami messaging refers to the event as "the Flores " — the phrasing used in one of the warning notices, which reads: "Tsunami warning issued for the Flores , later lifted." That wording is the only geographic reference in the available record, and it is a label attached to the event in the warning message rather than a stated epicenter location. Because the record gives no epicenter and no origin time, this story cannot describe where shaking was felt, how strong it was in populated areas, or what damage or casualties resulted.

Earlier reports

  1. Aug 16, 2026, 2:25 a.m. ET

    Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake Recorded; Tsunami Warning Issued, Then Lifted

    A magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred at approximately 06:00 local time on August 15, 2026, according to the hazard record for the event.

    A tsunami warning was initially issued and was later lifted, the same record states.

    The record does not specify where the earthquake occurred. No country, region or place name is given for it, and it carries no epicenter coordinates and no depth.

    The record also does not address damage, injuries or deaths, and it does not say which coastlines or communities the tsunami warning covered while it was in force, or when it was lifted.

  2. Aug 15, 2026, 10:23 p.m. ETFirst report

    7.7-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Coast of Flores, Indonesia

    A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Flores at approximately 6:00 local time on August 15, 2026, according to reporting from kesq.com.

    According to kesq.com, the quake occurred about 68 kilometers (42 miles) northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. A tsunami warning was initially issued following the earthquake but was later lifted, kesq.com reported.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 619 Aug 2026, 11:57

    Updated report structure and phrasing to maintain exact factual adherence to sources.

  2. Version 519 Aug 2026, 22:23current

    Updated story with depth, conflicting times and places reported by sources, and details on tsunami warnings.

  3. Version 417 Aug 2026, 09:56

    Updated report with specific location details, competing timestamps, and tsunami warning scope.

  4. Version 316 Aug 2026, 12:20

    Updated story with location details, time disagreements across outlets, and cited tsunami warning updates.

  5. Version 216 Aug 2026, 06:53

    Updated location details to report conflicting place descriptions from krdo.com and kesq.com, and attributed facts to both sources.

  6. Version 116 Aug 2026, 06:25current

    First published.

  7. Version 116 Aug 2026, 02:23current

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.