Reviewed by USGSIndonesia111y ago
M6.8 earthquake 238 km WNW of Sabang, Indonesia
Saturday, January 20, 1917, 23:48:37 UTC · 7.024°N, 93.481°E
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 238 km WNW of Sabang, Indonesia on Saturday, January 20, 1917, 23:48:37 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- 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
223 kilotons of TNT
That is about 15 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 468 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
114 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Burma 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 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 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1881M7.9
Andaman I,Nicobar I
31 Dec 1881 · 203 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1847
Little Nicobar Island
31 Oct 1847 · 40 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1885
Banda Atjeh
14 Dec 1885 · 259 km away
tsunami
- 1886
Koeta Radja (Atjeh)
31 Jan 1886 · 256 km away
tsunami
- 1888
Sumatera: Breueh Island
21 Mar 1888 · 216 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.