Reviewed by USGSIndonesia25y ago
M4.7 earthquake 58 km SW of Pagar Alam, Indonesia
Saturday, August 18, 2001, 06:55:53 UTC · 4.411°S, 102.888°E
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck 58 km SW of Pagar Alam, Indonesia on Saturday, August 18, 2001, 06:55:53 UTC, at a depth of 150.9 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.7 on August 10, 2001.
- Magnitude
- 4.7
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 151 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
169 tons of TNT
That is about 1/89 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 3 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
242 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: intermediate
151 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 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on August 31, 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 606 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 · 95 km W of this epicenter
- 7.676 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaJune 3, 1909 · 267 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.573 km WSW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 25, 1914 · 146 km W of this epicenter
- 7.548 km SW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaJune 24, 1933 · 211 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.4102 km SSE of Bengkulu, IndonesiaFebruary 13, 2001 · 47 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.478 km NNW of Curup, IndonesiaJune 8, 1943 · 191 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.3161 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 25, 1931 · 117 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.0164 km SSW of Pagar Alam, IndonesiaFebruary 10, 1931 · 110 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 14 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 · 168 km away
207 deaths$170 million damage
- 2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 95 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
- 1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 130 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 125 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 2000M6.7
Southern Sumatera: Lahat
7 Jun 2000 · 111 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1770M7.0
Sumatra:
1770 · 118 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.