Thousands of Residents in Ternate Still Displaced After Earthquake
As many as 1,966 residents or 568 family heads on Batang Dua Island, Ternate City, North Maluku, are still displaced following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck Ternate on Thursday, 2 April 2026, at around 07:48 WIT. They are displaced because their homes were damaged by the quake.
The Head of the Ternate City Regional Disaster Management Task Force, Rizal Marsaoly, stated that hundreds of displaced family heads are residents of four villages in the Batang Dua Subdistrict. They are recorded as taking shelter at 29 gathering points provided by the Ternate City Government.
“For now, some of them have returned, but those whose homes are severely damaged are still displaced. The Ternate City Government has deployed a disaster management team to the locations, including health personnel,” Rizal told Tempo on Friday, 10 April 2026.
According to Rizal, although most residents still prefer to take shelter in highland areas, government activities and public services such as education and health for the community have returned to normal. The public is also slowly beginning to repair their damaged homes.
“We have even distributed phase two aid to the affected residents. This week, we plan to distribute food, medicine, and clothing needs again,” Rizal said.
Ternate Mayor Tauhid Soleman stated that in handling the disaster, the Ternate City Government is currently still minimising post-earthquake impacts. The Ternate City Government has not yet lifted the post-earthquake disaster emergency status that occurred in the waters off Batang Dua on Thursday, 2 April 2026, at around 07:48 WIT.
“This step is still being taken as an effort to accelerate coordinated actions in handling the earthquake disaster. We plan to deploy health personnel to the affected locations again,” Tauhid said.
According to Tauhid, from the information he received, several basic infrastructures such as places of worship, schools, and residents’ homes in the Batang Dua and Ternate areas were reported damaged after the earthquake. Some schools even chose to suspend students due to the quake.
“But the current condition is already better, even though aftershocks continue to occur. The public has returned to activities,” Tauhid said.
Previously, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Ternate and Tidore. The epicentre, located at coordinates 1.25 North Latitude – 126.27 East Longitude with a depth of 62 kilometres, once caused panic among residents. The quake was reported to be felt in Ternate City, Tidore Islands City, Sofifi City in North Maluku, and Bitung, Manado, and Minahasa in North Sulawesi.