Reviewed by USGSIndia21y ago
M4.4 earthquake 253 km SSE of Port Blair, India
Tuesday, May 17, 2005, 08:17:00 UTC · 9.690°N, 93.925°E
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 253 km SSE of Port Blair, India on Tuesday, May 17, 2005, 08:17:00 UTC, at a depth of 30.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- 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
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
15 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Cocos and Panama 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 465 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.6Nicobar Islands, India regionDecember 26, 2004 · 193 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6249 km NW of Sabang, IndonesiaMarch 5, 1921 · 256 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5171 km S of Port Blair, IndiaApril 19, 1936 · 139 km W of this epicenter
- 6.3273 km SSE of Port Blair, IndiaOctober 21, 1916 · 51 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3Nicobar Islands, India regionOctober 25, 1970 · 66 km S of this epicenter
- 6.3Nicobar Islands, India regionSeptember 15, 1964 · 132 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3253 km E of Port Blair, IndiaMarch 28, 1971 · 273 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.3267 km NNW of Sabang, IndonesiaJanuary 11, 1956 · 189 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 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 · 288 km away
Extreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1881M7.9
Andaman I,Nicobar I
31 Dec 1881 · 209 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 2005M7.2
Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands
24 Jul 2005 · 274 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1847
Little Nicobar Island
31 Oct 1847 · 264 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.