M5.9 earthquake 157 km SSW of Gambiran Satu, Indonesia

Tuesday, March 27, 1928, 14:37:29 UTC · 9.751°S, 113.718°E

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 157 km SSW of Gambiran Satu, Indonesia on Tuesday, March 27, 1928, 14:37:29 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on October 23, 1925.

Magnitude: 5.9; Moderate · 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

9 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 19 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

131 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Australian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

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 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 4 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 6 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 11,489 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1815M7.3
Bali
22 Nov 1815 · 225 km away · intensity IX
11,453 deathstsunami
1857M7.0
Timor Island:: Dilhi, Gera
13 May 1857 · 276 km away
36 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1916M7.3
Java
11 Sep 1916 · 115 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1843M6.0
Java: Genteng Island
7 Feb 1843 · 285 km away
tsunami
1856
Lombok Island
25 Jul 1856 · 287 km away
tsunami
1925
Banda Sea
8 Jan 1925 · 240 km away · intensity III
tsunami

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

Nearby trackers