The 2021 Bali earthquake struck at 04:18 local time (UTC+08:00) when people were still sleeping on 15 October 2021.

[4] In July and August 2018, a series of earthquakes, the strongest reaching 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale, killed nearly 600 people in the neighbouring island of Lombok.

The BMKG has ruled out the Flores back-arc thrust fault as the source of the quake due to the strike-slip focal mechanism indicated by the seismological data.

[10][11] Instrumental seismic intensities measured by the BMKG suggest the quake only caused light shaking in Bali, but was felt as far as Lombok.

[12] At Denpasar, Karangasem, and northern Lombok the earthquake was felt lightly by residents at IV on the Mercalli intensity scale.