Magnitude6.1

Reviewed by USGSMyanmar97y ago

M6.1 earthquake 64 km WSW of Myitkyina, Myanmar

Tuesday, February 10, 1931, 01:22:59 UTC · 25.263°N, 96.773°E

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 64 km WSW of Myitkyina, Myanmar on Tuesday, February 10, 1931, 01:22:59 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.6 on January 27, 1931.

Magnitude
6.1
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

24 kilotons of TNT

That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 51 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

36 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Indian and Eurasian 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 100 km

USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.8 on February 11, 1931. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M5M61h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M6.1
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 5.895 km WSW of Myitkyina, Myanmar97y ago · 36 km SW of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 32 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 8 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1906M5.3

    Yunnan Province

    May 1906 · 198 km away · intensity VII

    1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)

  2. 1930M6.7

    Yunnan Province:

    21 Sep 1930 · 193 km away · intensity VIII

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  3. 1876M6.0

    Yunnan Province

    5 Aug 1876 · 264 km away · intensity VIII

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  4. 1929M5.5

    Htawgaw

    19 Jan 1929 · 126 km away · intensity IX

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  5. 1929

    Myitkyina

    4 Jun 1929 · 44 km away

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  6. 1931

    Kamaing

    28 Jan 1931 · 15 km away · intensity IX

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages