M5.1 earthquake 181 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, Indonesia

Thursday, December 20, 2007, 07:42:53 UTC · 3.504°S, 100.623°E

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 181 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, Indonesia on Thursday, December 20, 2007, 07:42:53 UTC, at a depth of 27.9 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.1 on December 16, 2007.

Magnitude: 5.1; Moderate · 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

674 tons of TNT

That is about 1/22 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

100 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Australian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

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 75 km

USGS lists 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.8 on January 17, 2008. 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 636 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 20 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 241 recorded deaths. The most severe:

2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 211 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
1995M6.8
Sumatera, Jambi Province
6 Oct 1995 · 186 km away
84 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
2007M8.4
Sumatra
12 Sep 2007 · 133 km away
25 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 141 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 233 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
2000M6.7
Southern Sumatera: Lahat
7 Jun 2000 · 188 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers