Reviewed by USGSIndonesia38y ago
M4.2 earthquake 168 km SE of Tual, Indonesia
Monday, July 25, 1988, 09:21:57 UTC · 6.606°S, 133.919°E
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 168 km SE of Tual, Indonesia on Monday, July 25, 1988, 09:21:57 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- 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: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
38 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Banda Sea and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
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 50 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.0 on July 27, 1988. 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 105 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.7147 km E of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 6, 1943 · 119 km N of this epicenter
- 7.1152 km NNE of Tual, IndonesiaFebruary 15, 1936 · 257 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0112 km ESE of Tual, IndonesiaJuly 25, 1988 · 65 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.7158 km SW of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 18, 1919 · 233 km W of this epicenter
- 6.6203 km WSW of Nabire, IndonesiaDecember 7, 1928 · 275 km N of this epicenter
- 6.6135 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaApril 23, 1964 · 138 km N of this epicenter
- 6.4151 km SW of Nabire, IndonesiaOctober 5, 1947 · 264 km N of this epicenter
- 6.4193 km NE of Tual, IndonesiaApril 17, 1973 · 241 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1943M7.6
New Guinea: Irian Jaya: Aru Islands
6 Nov 1943 · 93 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.