QuakeScout
Magnitude4.4

Reviewed by USGSIndonesia3y ago

M4.4 earthquake 231 km W of Tual, Indonesia

Sunday, September 10, 2023, 21:58:13 UTC · 5.937°S, 130.681°E

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 231 km W of Tual, Indonesia on Sunday, September 10, 2023, 21:58:13 UTC, at a depth of 109.1 km (intermediate).

Magnitude
4.4
Light · mb
Depth
109 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

60 tons of TNT

That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

84 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Banda Sea and Timor plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: intermediate

109 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 50 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 1,460 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 8.51938 Banda Sea EarthquakeFebruary 1, 1938 · 143 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 8.11963 Banda Sea EarthquakeNovember 4, 1963 · 164 km SW of this epicenter
  3. 7.7Banda SeaNovember 2, 1950 · 193 km SW of this epicenter
  4. 7.6Pulau Pulau Tanimbar, IndonesiaJanuary 9, 2023 · 145 km SW of this epicenter
  5. 7.6196 km S of Ambon, IndonesiaJanuary 27, 2006 · 287 km W of this epicenter
  6. 7.5273 km WSW of Tual, IndonesiaJune 3, 1927 · 93 km S of this epicenter
  7. 7.3281 km WSW of Tual, IndonesiaDecember 20, 1992 · 78 km SW of this epicenter
  8. 7.3Banda SeaJune 24, 2019 · 175 km W of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 19 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 70 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1852M8.3

    Maluku: Bandanaira

    25 Nov 1852 · 128 km away · intensity IX

    60 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  2. 1763

    Bandaneira

    12 Sep 1763 · 76 km away · intensity X

    7 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  3. 1711M7.0

    Banda Sea

    5 Sep 1711 · 285 km away

    2 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  4. 2023M7.6

    Banda Sea

    9 Jan 2023 · 143 km away · intensity V

    1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  5. 1710

    Bandaneira

    6 Mar 1710 · 179 km away · intensity IX

    Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  6. 1938M8.6

    New Guinea

    1 Feb 1938 · 143 km away · intensity VI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

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