Reviewed by USGSCroatia84y ago
M6.2 earthquake 2 km SE of Grabovci, Croatia
Tuesday, December 29, 1942, 03:42:22 UTC · 43.481°N, 17.225°E
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck 2 km SE of Grabovci, Croatia on Tuesday, December 29, 1942, 03:42:22 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on August 4, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- Strong · 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
27 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 57 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
480 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and African 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 100 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.4 on January 20, 1943. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 34 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.59 km E of Stari Bar, MontenegroJune 1, 1905 · 226 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.24 km ESE of Rrëshen, AlbaniaAugust 4, 1905 · 294 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.1Bosnia and HerzegovinaMarch 15, 1923 · 39 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.011 km NW of Bileća, Bosnia and HerzegovinaFebruary 14, 1927 · 107 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.08 km WNW of Kragujevac, SerbiaMay 15, 1927 · 295 km E of this epicenter
- 6.011 km S of Čačak, SerbiaMarch 24, 1922 · 254 km E of this epicenter
- 6.07 km ESE of Pokupsko, CroatiaOctober 8, 1909 · 238 km N of this epicenter
- 5.9Montenegro-Albania border regionJune 3, 1905 · 234 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 28 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 4,730 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1731M6.3
Foggia
20 Mar 1731 · 262 km away · intensity X
3,600 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1706
Sulmona To Campobasso, Abruzzi
3 Nov 1706 · 300 km away · intensity X
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1905M6.6
Shkoder
1 Jun 1905 · 247 km away · intensity X
120 deaths$24 million damage
- 1933
Central
26 Sep 1933 · 297 km away · intensity IX
10 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1922M6.0
Serbia
24 Mar 1922 · 274 km away · intensity X
Severe damage ($5–24M)
- 1917M5.6
Slovenia: Brezice
29 Jan 1917 · 298 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.