M5.2 earthquake 117 km SW of Pagar Alam, Indonesia

Saturday, March 17, 2001, 05:54:27 UTC · 4.885°S, 102.626°E

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 117 km SW of Pagar Alam, Indonesia on Saturday, March 17, 2001, 05:54:27 UTC, at a depth of 50.5 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.4 on March 8, 2001.

Magnitude: 5.2; Moderate · mwc
Depth: 51 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: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

951 tons of TNT

That is about 1/16 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 2 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

186 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

51 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 75 km

USGS lists 8 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.5 on April 8, 2001. 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 604 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 13 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 · 186 km away
207 deaths$170 million damage
2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 62 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 139 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 177 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
2000M6.7
Southern Sumatera: Lahat
7 Jun 2000 · 85 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
1770M7.0
Sumatra:
1770 · 71 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers