M5.8 earthquake 141 km SSW of Sumbawa Besar, Indonesia

Sunday, October 16, 1977, 21:09:17 UTC · 9.733°S, 117.118°E

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 141 km SSW of Sumbawa Besar, Indonesia on Sunday, October 16, 1977, 21:09:17 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.8 on October 7, 1977.

Magnitude: 5.8; Moderate · ms
Depth: 33 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

8 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 16 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

177 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

33 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 lists 7 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.6 on October 25, 1977. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 186 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 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 798 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1976M6.5
Bali
14 Jul 1976 · 300 km away
573 deaths$195 million damage
1977M8.3
Sunda Islands
19 Aug 1977 · 210 km away
189 deaths$1 million damagetsunami
1857M7.0
Timor Island:: Dilhi, Gera
13 May 1857 · 262 km away
36 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1836M7.5
Flores Sea
28 Nov 1836 · 236 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1954M6.8
Sumabawa: Bima,Raba
2 Nov 1954 · 283 km away · intensity VIII
Limited damage (under $1M)
1977M5.2
Bali: Kayubihi,Banjar Antugan Jehem
26 Jan 1977 · 270 km away · intensity VI
Limited damage (under $1M)

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

Nearby trackers