On 26 September 2019, a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Seram Island in Maluku, Indonesia, near the provincial capital of Ambon.

According to the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), the earthquake's epicenter was located inland of Seram Island, some 42 kilometres (26 mi) northeast of the city of Ambon, the capital of Maluku and 10 km from the town of Kairatu.

[1] Indonesian National Earthquake Centre reported that the fault that was responsible for the quake hadn't been previously mapped by scientists.

[11] On 6 October, the agency reported that more than 1,000 aftershocks had been recorded, of which the strongest was a magnitude 5.6, which struck Ambon at a depth of 10 km, less than an hour after the mainshock.

The quake struck with a strike-slip mechanism, with its epicenter located offshore, approximately 16 km east of the city.

Several buildings including a music shop and an ICU suffered significant damage and a high school reportedly collapsed, killing a student.

[21] Places of worship such as churches and mosques also reportedly suffered slight damage[22] In Tulehu, a floating market collapsed onto the sea due to the shaking.

[34] By the evening of 27 September, local time, 23 fatalities had been confirmed from the earthquake, primarily due to falling rubble from damaged buildings.

[42] President of Indonesia Joko Widodo expressed his condolences for the earthquake, and stated that affected victims would have their medical fees covered by the government.

[45] The Ministry of Social Affairs released a further Rp 1.1 billion in funds,[46] later announced that those who had relatives killed by the quake would be compensated with a total of Rp15 million rupiah.

[51] On 9 October, due to the increasing number of evacuee, the provincial government of Maluku extended the state of emergency to an unspecified time amount.

[54] Due to the "unusual" number and "aggressiveness" of earthquakes and aftershocks in the region, the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency announced that it would conduct a joint study with experts from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on the seismic zone and the fault mechanism in the area.

[57] The agency also announced that a total of Rp 2 billion rupiah of emergency funds would be provided to ease the relief efforts in Maluku.

[61] The Regional Police of Maluku provided trauma healing and counseling to treat PTSD, with check-ups routinely held every day.

[65] Government-owned health insurance company BPJS and major aid organisation Rumah Zakat sent hundreds of logistics to Maluku.

[67][68] Moluccan community in Waalwijk, Netherlands made a plea to the local government to send aid to Ambon.

Ex-senator from Netherlands' GroenLinks Party Samuel Richard Pormes stated that he hoped for the willingness of the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency to cooperate for the aids distribution.

Maluku's government admitted that relief effort and aids delivery were hampered due to the inaccessibility of some villages in the region.

[71] On 29 October, 9 days after his second inauguration, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited several evacuation centres in Maluku to check with the evacuees.

[72] He stated that the government would send more aids and emergency funds and that houses that had been either damaged or destroyed would be rebuilt or repaired.