M4.5 earthquake 121 km W of Ternate, Indonesia

Thursday, May 17, 2007, 04:59:45 UTC · 0.881°N, 126.298°E

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 121 km W of Ternate, Indonesia on Thursday, May 17, 2007, 04:59:45 UTC, at a depth of 32.6 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.5 on May 17, 2007.

Magnitude: 4.5; Light · mb
Depth: 33 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: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

85 tons of TNT

That is about 1/178 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 6 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

20 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Molucca Sea and Sunda plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

33 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 lists 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.7 on June 16, 2007. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 1,699 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 25 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 172 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1845M7.0
N Sulawesi: Menado, Tikala, Tomohon
8 Feb 1845 · 174 km away · intensity IX
118 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1855
Maluku: Ternate Island
14 Jul 1855 · 112 km away · intensity IX
34 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1994M7.0
Kau
21 Jan 1994 · 160 km away
9 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1932M7.7
Sulawesi: Kakas,Langowan,Poso,Tondano
14 May 1932 · 72 km away · intensity VII
7 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
2007M7.5
Molucca Islands: N
21 Jan 2007 · 21 km away
4 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
1858M7.3
N. Moluccas Islands
13 Dec 1858 · 36 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers