QuakeScout
Magnitude4.1

Reviewed by USGSIndonesia18y ago

M4.1 earthquake 161 km WSW of Sungai Penuh, Indonesia

Thursday, March 20, 2008, 15:57:07 UTC · 2.780°S, 100.129°E

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck 161 km WSW of Sungai Penuh, Indonesia on Thursday, March 20, 2008, 15:57:07 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.1
Light · mb
Depth
35 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

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

2 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North Andes and South American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

35 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 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.5 on March 25, 2008. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M41h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.1
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 4.5148 km WSW of Sungai Penuh, Indonesia18y ago · 21 km N of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 501 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 8.4122 km SW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 12, 2007 · 230 km SE of this epicenter
  2. 7.987 km SW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaSeptember 12, 2007 · 81 km E of this epicenter
  3. 7.726 km S of Sijunjung, IndonesiaJune 9, 1943 · 224 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 7.676 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaJune 3, 1909 · 118 km E of this epicenter
  5. 7.573 km WSW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 25, 1914 · 216 km SE of this epicenter
  6. 7.478 km NNW of Curup, IndonesiaJune 8, 1943 · 230 km E of this epicenter
  7. 7.2164 km WSW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaFebruary 25, 2008 · 37 km NW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 21 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 210 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1995M6.8

    Sumatera, Jambi Province

    6 Oct 1995 · 167 km away

    84 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  2. 2007M6.4

    Sumatra: Southern

    6 Mar 2007 · 258 km away · intensity VIII

    67 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  3. 2007M8.4

    Sumatra

    12 Sep 2007 · 230 km away

    25 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1914M7.6

    Sumatera

    25 Jun 1914 · 227 km away

    20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  5. 1979M6.6

    S Sumatera

    15 Dec 1979 · 293 km away

    8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  6. 2004M5.1

    Sumatra: Padangpanjang

    16 Feb 2004 · 264 km away

    5 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

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

Nearby trackers

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