Reviewed by USGS45y ago
M5.6 earthquake in Owen Fracture Zone region
Saturday, December 5, 1981, 18:46:50 UTC · 14.570°N, 58.090°E
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck in Owen Fracture Zone region on Saturday, December 5, 1981, 18:46:50 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.6 on April 22, 1969.
- Magnitude
- 5.6
- Moderate · mb
- Depth
- 10 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
4 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/4 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 8 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
12 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Indian and Arabian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
10 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 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.3 on December 5, 1981. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 59 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.1Owen Fracture Zone regionMarch 31, 1954 · 265 km S of this epicenter
- 5.7256 km ENE of Hadibu, YemenJanuary 18, 1935 · 242 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.7Owen Fracture Zone regionMarch 19, 1964 · 190 km W of this epicenter
- 5.7296 km NE of Hadibu, YemenAugust 14, 1932 · 201 km W of this epicenter
- 5.6281 km ENE of Hadibu, YemenJuly 21, 1951 · 209 km W of this epicenter
- 5.6Owen Fracture Zone regionApril 22, 1969 · 207 km S of this epicenter
- 5.6Owen Fracture Zone regionJune 24, 1931 · 229 km NE of this epicenter
- 5.6Owen Fracture Zone regionSeptember 20, 1972 · 163 km W of this epicenter