Reviewed by USGS24y ago
M6.4 earthquake in Prince Edward Islands region
Monday, January 27, 2003, 17:56:25 UTC · 46.048°S, 35.057°E
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck in Prince Edward Islands region on Monday, January 27, 2003, 17:56:25 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.7 on August 25, 1924.
- Magnitude
- 6.4
- Strong · mwc
- Depth
- 10 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: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
60 kilotons of TNT
That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 126 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
29 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Somali and Antarctic plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
10 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 100 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.2 on February 22, 2003. 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 25 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.7Prince Edward Islands regionAugust 25, 1924 · 90 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3Prince Edward Islands regionOctober 5, 1941 · 93 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.3Prince Edward Islands regionAugust 4, 1957 · 70 km N of this epicenter
- 6.2Prince Edward Islands regionAugust 21, 1978 · 263 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.1Prince Edward Islands regionMay 9, 1926 · 174 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.1Prince Edward Islands regionJuly 24, 1969 · 35 km N of this epicenter
- 6.0Prince Edward Islands regionMarch 17, 2002 · 92 km N of this epicenter
- 6.0Prince Edward Islands regionFebruary 18, 2001 · 257 km SW of this epicenter