Reviewed by USGSGeorgia120y ago
M5.5 earthquake 6 km NW of Kveda Chkhorots’q’u, Georgia
Thursday, August 29, 1907, 11:40:44 UTC · 42.532°N, 42.047°E
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck 6 km NW of Kveda Chkhorots’q’u, Georgia on Thursday, August 29, 1907, 11:40:44 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.6 on October 21, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 5.5
- Moderate · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
2 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/6 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 5 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
360 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian and Eurasian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
15 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 75 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 16,404 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1859M6.1
Erzurum
2 Jun 1859 · 299 km away
15,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1903M5.8
Varginis,Cardahli,Mehkerek
28 May 1903 · 189 km away · intensity VIII
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1899M5.6
Turkey
31 Dec 1899 · 159 km away
247 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1900M5.9
Kars,Karakurt,Kagizman,Digor
12 Jul 1900 · 263 km away · intensity VIII
140 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1852M7.3
Turkey
24 Jul 1852 · 299 km away
17 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
- 1901M6.1
Hasankale,Hins,Erzurum
8 Nov 1901 · 285 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.