QuakeScout
Magnitude4.6

Reviewed by USGSIndonesia33y ago

M4.6 earthquake 117 km SW of Kotabumi, Indonesia

Tuesday, March 15, 1994, 11:08:57 UTC · 5.626°S, 104.189°E

A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck 117 km SW of Kotabumi, Indonesia on Tuesday, March 15, 1994, 11:08:57 UTC, at a depth of 104.5 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.3 on February 24, 1994.

Magnitude
4.6
Light · mb
Depth
105 km
Intermediate
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

246 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Australian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: intermediate

105 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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

  1. 7.548 km SW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaJune 24, 1933 · 69 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 7.3161 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 25, 1931 · 217 km W of this epicenter
  3. 7.0164 km SSW of Pagar Alam, IndonesiaFebruary 10, 1931 · 179 km W of this epicenter
  4. 7.0119 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaOctober 1, 1975 · 235 km W of this epicenter
  5. 7.030 km WNW of Labuan, IndonesiaApril 1, 1943 · 170 km SE of this epicenter
  6. 7.061 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaApril 8, 1971 · 257 km NW of this epicenter
  7. 6.966 km WSW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaFebruary 15, 1994 · 74 km N of this epicenter
  8. 6.850 km WSW of Labuan, IndonesiaJuly 3, 1954 · 178 km SE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 207 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1994M6.9

    Southern Sumatera, Liwa, Lampung

    15 Feb 1994 · 74 km away

    207 deaths$170 million damage

  2. 1770M7.0

    Sumatra:

    1770 · 252 km away

    Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  3. 1986M5.0

    Sumatera: S, Hahat, Muaraenim

    29 Jan 1986 · 208 km away

    Severe damage ($5–24M)

  4. 1933M5.8

    S Sumatera

    25 Jun 1933 · 77 km away · intensity IX

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  5. 1931M7.4

    Sw. Sumatra

    25 Sep 1931 · 174 km away · intensity VIII

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  6. 1963M6.6

    Java: Labuhan, Menes, Ponorogo

    16 Dec 1963 · 159 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

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