Reviewed by USGSIndonesia38y ago
M4.0 earthquake 157 km ESE of Tual, Indonesia
Wednesday, July 27, 1988, 03:07:12 UTC · 6.307°S, 134.007°E
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 157 km ESE of Tual, Indonesia on Wednesday, July 27, 1988, 03:07:12 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.0
- 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
15 tons of TNT
That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
31 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 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 113 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.51938 Banda Sea EarthquakeFebruary 1, 1938 · 300 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.7147 km E of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 6, 1943 · 85 km N of this epicenter
- 7.1152 km NNE of Tual, IndonesiaFebruary 15, 1936 · 228 km N of this epicenter
- 7.196 km SSW of Nabire, IndonesiaJanuary 27, 1942 · 270 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.0112 km ESE of Tual, IndonesiaJuly 25, 1988 · 45 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.7158 km SW of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 18, 1919 · 246 km W of this epicenter
- 6.6203 km WSW of Nabire, IndonesiaDecember 7, 1928 · 242 km N of this epicenter
- 6.6135 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaApril 23, 1964 · 105 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 3 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1938M8.6
New Guinea
1 Feb 1938 · 300 km away · intensity VI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1943M7.6
New Guinea: Irian Jaya: Aru Islands
6 Nov 1943 · 64 km away
- 1915
Kaimana
23 May 1915 · 298 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.