M4.3 earthquake 79 km E of Luwuk, Indonesia

Saturday, July 29, 2000, 18:46:02 UTC · 1.076°S, 123.488°E

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 79 km E of Luwuk, Indonesia on Saturday, July 29, 2000, 18:46:02 UTC, at a depth of 70.0 km (intermediate).

Magnitude: 4.3; Light · mb
Depth: 70 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

43 tons of TNT

That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

159 km

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

Depth: intermediate

70 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 lists 3 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.7 on August 19, 2000. 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 661 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 15 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 98 recorded deaths. The most severe:

2000M7.6
Sulawesi: Luwuk, Banggai, Peleng,
4 May 2000 · 10 km away
54 deaths$30 million damagetsunami
1998M7.7
Mangole, Manado, Taliabu
29 Nov 1998 · 191 km away · intensity VII
41 deaths$200 million damagetsunami
1990M7.6
Minahassa Peninsula: Bolaang-Gorontalo
18 Apr 1990 · 261 km away
3 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1991M7.5
Minahassa: Gorontalo, Mamado
20 Jun 1991 · 264 km away · intensity VI
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1939M8.0
Centrtal Sulawesi: Kalo,Luwuk,Sula I
21 Dec 1939 · 131 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1859M7.3
Sulawesi
29 Jul 1859 · 254 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers