QuakeScout
Magnitude4.4

Reviewed by USGSGuam33y ago

M4.4 earthquake 142 km E of Yigo Village, Guam

Friday, October 15, 1993, 19:34:14 UTC · 13.530°N, 146.208°E

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 142 km E of Yigo Village, Guam on Friday, October 15, 1993, 19:34:14 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.4
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

60 tons of TNT

That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

49 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Mariana and Pacific 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 M4.9 on October 21, 1993. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M51h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.4
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 4.9125 km E of Yigo Village, Guam33y ago · 21 km SW of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 360 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.832 km S of Inarajan Village, GuamAugust 8, 1993 · 164 km W of this epicenter
  2. 7.6198 km E of Saipan, Northern Mariana IslandsApril 5, 1990 · 232 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 7.0176 km ESE of San Jose Village, Northern Mariana IslandsMay 18, 1913 · 125 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 7.098 km SSE of Inarajan Village, GuamDecember 9, 1909 · 185 km SW of this epicenter
  5. 7.032 km NNE of Yigo Village, GuamOctober 26, 1912 · 139 km W of this epicenter
  6. 7.0233 km ESE of Saipan, Northern Mariana IslandsJune 14, 1942 · 214 km NE of this epicenter
  7. 6.5112 km NE of Saipan, Northern Mariana IslandsJune 6, 1993 · 258 km N of this epicenter
  8. 6.446 km ENE of Yigo Village, GuamOctober 29, 1936 · 105 km W of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:

  1. 1993M7.8

    Tuman Bay, Apra Harbor

    8 Aug 1993 · 164 km away · intensity IX

    $250 million damagetsunami

  2. 1909M8.0

    Guam

    9 Dec 1909 · 174 km away · intensity VIII

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  3. 1975M6.1

    Guam

    1 Nov 1975 · 161 km away · intensity VII

    Limited damage (under $1M)

  4. 1990M7.5

    Saipan; Guam

    5 Apr 1990 · 232 km away · intensity IV

    tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

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