Reviewed by USGSIndia21y ago
M3.9 earthquake 166 km SW of Port Blair, India
Monday, May 9, 2005, 18:23:51 UTC · 10.535°N, 91.737°E
A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck 166 km SW of Port Blair, India on Monday, May 9, 2005, 18:23:51 UTC, at a depth of 27.5 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 3.9
- Minor · mb
- Depth
- 28 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
11 tons of TNT
That is about 1/1,410 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 45 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
17 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Indian and Burma plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
28 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 218 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.043 km N of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJune 26, 1941 · 199 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.6Nicobar Islands, India regionDecember 26, 2004 · 197 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5171 km S of Port Blair, IndiaApril 19, 1936 · 119 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3273 km SSE of Port Blair, IndiaOctober 21, 1916 · 244 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3Nicobar Islands, India regionOctober 25, 1970 · 285 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3Nicobar Islands, India regionSeptember 15, 1964 · 236 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.353 km W of Bamboo Flat, IndiaAugust 8, 1945 · 141 km N of this epicenter
- 6.2112 km NE of Bamboo Flat, IndiaJuly 4, 1917 · 281 km NE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 3 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1941M8.0
Andaman Islands,Madras; Sri Lanka: Colombo
26 Jun 1941 · 184 km away
Extreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1881M7.9
Andaman I,Nicobar I
31 Dec 1881 · 237 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 2005M7.2
Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands
24 Jul 2005 · 295 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.