Reviewed by USGSAfghanistan120y ago
M6.5 earthquake 57 km NNW of Pārūn, Afghanistan
Thursday, March 12, 1908, 19:26:22 UTC · 35.874°N, 70.618°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 57 km NNW of Pārūn, Afghanistan on Thursday, March 12, 1908, 19:26:22 UTC, at a depth of 190.0 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.6 on December 25, 1907.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · ms
- Depth
- 190 km
- Intermediate
- 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
85 kilotons of TNT
That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 178 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
212 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Indian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: intermediate
190 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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, which together caused about 500 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1842
Jalalabad
19 Feb 1842 · 164 km away
500 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1832
Afghanistan
22 Jan 1832 · 78 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
- 1874
Afghanistan
18 Oct 1874 · 176 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
- 1896M7.5
Afghanistan
23 Sep 1896 · 130 km away · intensity VI
- 1908M7.0
Hindu Kush
23 Oct 1908 · 70 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.