M4.5 earthquake 11 km NNW of Pīpalkoti, India

Thursday, April 1, 1999, 02:48:51 UTC · 30.528°N, 79.407°E

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 11 km NNW of Pīpalkoti, India on Thursday, April 1, 1999, 02:48:51 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.3 on March 30, 1999.

Magnitude: 4.5; Light · mb
Depth: 10 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

85 tons of TNT

That is about 1/178 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 6 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

105 km

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

Depth: shallow

10 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 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.1 on April 6, 1999. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 96 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 2,442 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1991M7.0
Chamoli, Uttarkashi, New Delhi, Chandigarh
19 Oct 1991 · 67 km away · intensity VIII
2,000 deaths$60 million damage
1980M6.5
Pithoragarh
29 Jul 1980 · 192 km away
200 deaths$245 million damage
1999M6.6
Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal
28 Mar 1999 · 2 km away · intensity VIII
100 deaths$70 million damage
1966M6.3
Nepal-India
27 Jun 1966 · 176 km away · intensity VIII
80 deaths$1 million damage
1975M6.8
Kashmir: Kinnaur District
19 Jan 1975 · 234 km away
47 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1966M5.6
N
15 Aug 1966 · 209 km away
15 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

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

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