Reviewed by USGSIndonesia26y ago
M4.2 earthquake 168 km S of Pagar Alam, Indonesia
Thursday, December 14, 2000, 08:52:37 UTC · 5.525°S, 102.959°E
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 168 km S of Pagar Alam, Indonesia on Thursday, December 14, 2000, 08:52:37 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- 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
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
167 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: 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 January 4, 2001. 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 608 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.9103 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 4, 2000 · 132 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.573 km WSW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 25, 1914 · 223 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.548 km SW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaJune 24, 1933 · 189 km E of this epicenter
- 7.3161 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 25, 1931 · 82 km W of this epicenter
- 7.0164 km SSW of Pagar Alam, IndonesiaFebruary 10, 1931 · 45 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.0119 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaOctober 1, 1975 · 111 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.061 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaApril 8, 1971 · 152 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.966 km WSW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaFebruary 15, 1994 · 161 km NE of this epicenter
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 339 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1994M6.9
Southern Sumatera, Liwa, Lampung
15 Feb 1994 · 161 km away
207 deaths$170 million damage
- 2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 132 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
- 1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 218 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 249 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 2000M6.7
Southern Sumatera: Lahat
7 Jun 2000 · 155 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1770M7.0
Sumatra:
1770 · 121 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.