Reviewed by USGSIndonesia18y ago
M4.2 earthquake southern Sumatra, Indonesia
Monday, December 1, 2008, 17:31:38 UTC · 4.733°S, 101.829°E
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck southern Sumatra, Indonesia on Monday, December 1, 2008, 17:31:38 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- 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
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
129 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
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 M4.7 on December 30, 2008. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 771 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.4122 km SW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 12, 2007 · 61 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.987 km SW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaSeptember 12, 2007 · 259 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.9103 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 4, 2000 · 29 km E of this epicenter
- 7.676 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaJune 3, 1909 · 236 km N of this epicenter
- 7.573 km WSW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 25, 1914 · 83 km N of this epicenter
- 7.4102 km SSE of Bengkulu, IndonesiaFebruary 13, 2001 · 81 km E of this epicenter
- 7.478 km NNW of Curup, IndonesiaJune 8, 1943 · 214 km N of this epicenter
- 7.3161 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaSeptember 25, 1931 · 76 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 16 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 366 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1994M6.9
Southern Sumatera, Liwa, Lampung
15 Feb 1994 · 275 km away
207 deaths$170 million damage
- 2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 29 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
- 2007M8.4
Sumatra
12 Sep 2007 · 61 km away
25 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 90 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 187 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 2008M5.4
Sumatra: Southern
9 Sep 2008 · 163 km away
2 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.