Reviewed by USGS21y ago
M4.1 earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra
Tuesday, March 22, 2005, 17:48:04 UTC · 3.340°N, 92.852°E
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra on Tuesday, March 22, 2005, 17:48:04 UTC, at a depth of 30.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.1
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 30 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
21 tons of TNT
That is about 1/707 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 22 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
59 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Burma and Indian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
30 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 170 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.5209 km WSW of Sinabang, IndonesiaNovember 21, 1969 · 237 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.975 km WSW of Banda Aceh, IndonesiaAugust 23, 1936 · 297 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.9164 km WSW of Sinabang, IndonesiaNovember 8, 1995 · 296 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.8276 km WSW of Sinabang, IndonesiaSeptember 29, 1979 · 285 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.7171 km W of Meulaboh, IndonesiaDecember 9, 1929 · 211 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.7off the west coast of northern SumatraJanuary 1, 2005 · 205 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3184 km W of Banda Aceh, IndonesiaNovember 25, 1935 · 270 km N of this epicenter
- 6.2199 km W of Sinabang, IndonesiaJanuary 26, 2005 · 207 km E of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 2 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1969M7.7
Off Nw Coast Sumatera
21 Nov 1969 · 238 km away
- 1935M6.5
Celebes Sea
25 Nov 1935 · 272 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.