Reviewed by USGSIndonesia38y ago
M4.6 earthquake 223 km SE of Tual, Indonesia
Sunday, July 31, 1988, 12:48:06 UTC · 7.193°S, 134.038°E
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck 223 km SE of Tual, Indonesia on Sunday, July 31, 1988, 12:48:06 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on July 25, 1988.
- Magnitude
- 4.6
- 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
120 tons of TNT
That is about 1/126 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 4 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
101 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Banda Sea 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 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 65 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 · 183 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0112 km ESE of Tual, IndonesiaJuly 25, 1988 · 130 km N of this epicenter
- 6.7158 km SW of Tual, IndonesiaNovember 18, 1919 · 251 km W of this epicenter
- 6.6135 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaApril 23, 1964 · 204 km N of this epicenter
- 6.4181 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaSeptember 15, 1955 · 271 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3155 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaJanuary 30, 1974 · 226 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3161 km ENE of Tual, IndonesiaJanuary 15, 1951 · 261 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3155 km SSW of Tual, IndonesiaApril 6, 1953 · 224 km W 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 · 142 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.