Reviewed by USGSEthiopia98y ago
M6.0 earthquake 34 km SSE of Asaita, Ethiopia
Saturday, May 18, 1929, 01:02:14 UTC · 11.284°N, 41.568°E
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 34 km SSE of Asaita, Ethiopia on Saturday, May 18, 1929, 01:02:14 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.0 on January 22, 1929.
- Magnitude
- 6.0
- 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
16 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 33 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
9 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Somali and African 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 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 3 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 3 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 106 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1861
Dubbi
7 May 1861 · 273 km away
106 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1842
Ankober
8 Dec 1842 · 269 km away · intensity IX
Severe damage ($5–24M)
- 1909
Djibouti; Yemen
19 Feb 1909 · 112 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.