QuakeScout
Magnitude6.4

Reviewed by USGSIndonesia72y ago

M6.4 earthquake 181 km ENE of Tual, Indonesia

Thursday, September 15, 1955, 12:30:36 UTC · 4.760°S, 134.142°E

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 181 km ENE of Tual, Indonesia on Thursday, September 15, 1955, 12:30:36 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.9 on June 6, 1954.

Magnitude
6.4
Strong · mw
Depth
35 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

56 kilotons of TNT

That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 117 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

9 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Australian and Birds Head plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

35 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 100 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 27 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 8.51938 Banda Sea EarthquakeFebruary 1, 1938 · 282 km W of this epicenter
  2. 7.736 km NNE of Nabire, IndonesiaJanuary 13, 1916 · 253 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 7.7147 km E of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 6, 1943 · 88 km S of this epicenter
  4. 7.1152 km NNE of Tual, IndonesiaFebruary 15, 1936 · 101 km NW of this epicenter
  5. 7.196 km SSW of Nabire, IndonesiaJanuary 27, 1942 · 127 km NE of this epicenter
  6. 7.027 km NE of Nabire, IndonesiaJanuary 13, 1916 · 244 km NE of this epicenter
  7. 6.935 km SSE of Nabire, IndonesiaJune 6, 1954 · 209 km NE of this epicenter
  8. 6.86 km ENE of Nabire, IndonesiaAugust 3, 1915 · 222 km NE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 7 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:

  1. 1938M8.6

    New Guinea

    1 Feb 1938 · 282 km away · intensity VI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  2. 1938

    New Guinea: Fakfak

    13 Feb 1938 · 283 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  3. 1916M8.1

    New Guinea: Irian Jaya

    13 Jan 1916 · 284 km away

  4. 1916M8.1

    New Guinea: Irian Jaya

    13 Jan 1916 · 247 km away

  5. 1943M7.6

    New Guinea: Irian Jaya: Aru Islands

    6 Nov 1943 · 143 km away

  6. 1915

    Kaimana

    23 May 1915 · 134 km away

    tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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