Reviewed by USGSIndia78y ago
M5.8 earthquake 247 km E of Port Blair, India
Tuesday, June 14, 1949, 00:21:19 UTC · 11.687°N, 95.012°E
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 247 km E of Port Blair, India on Tuesday, June 14, 1949, 00:21:19 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.1 on July 27, 1944.
- Magnitude
- 5.8
- 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
8 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 16 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
1 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Burma plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
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 25 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.043 km N of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJune 26, 1941 · 261 km W of this epicenter
- 6.4Andaman Islands, India regionOctober 17, 1922 · 94 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.2112 km NE of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJuly 4, 1917 · 199 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.168 km N of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJuly 27, 1944 · 247 km W of this epicenter
- 6.1290 km WSW of Dawei, MyanmarApril 11, 1935 · 183 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.1258 km SSE of Port Blair, IndiaOctober 7, 1938 · 276 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.0114 km NNE of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJune 27, 1941 · 235 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.097 km ESE of Port Blair, IndiaOctober 11, 1914 · 156 km W of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1941M8.0
Andaman Islands,Madras; Sri Lanka: Colombo
26 Jun 1941 · 261 km away
Extreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.