Reviewed by USGSIndonesia26y ago
M4.4 earthquake 97 km ESE of Kendari, Indonesia
Monday, May 15, 2000, 01:52:00 UTC · 4.183°S, 123.365°E
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 97 km ESE of Kendari, Indonesia on Monday, May 15, 2000, 01:52:00 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
26 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Molucca Sea and Banda Sea 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 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.7 on May 19, 2000. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 85 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.7264 km ESE of Luwuk, IndonesiaNovember 29, 1998 · 290 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.0194 km SE of Baubau, IndonesiaAugust 6, 1914 · 272 km S of this epicenter
- 6.8161 km S of Luwuk, IndonesiaNovember 19, 1913 · 221 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.6117 km E of Palopo, IndonesiaFebruary 13, 1924 · 265 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5100 km E of Palopo, IndonesiaJuly 29, 1924 · 278 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.3Banda SeaAugust 4, 1969 · 271 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3Banda SeaFebruary 21, 1978 · 239 km E of this epicenter
- 6.380 km ESE of Kendari, IndonesiaMay 14, 2000 · 26 km SW 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, which together caused about 41 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1998M7.7
Mangole, Manado, Taliabu
29 Nov 1998 · 290 km away · intensity VII
41 deaths$200 million damagetsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.