Reviewed by USGSIndonesia18y ago
M4.5 earthquake 69 km S of Bengkulu, Indonesia
Saturday, December 20, 2008, 00:02:51 UTC · 4.432°S, 102.293°E
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 69 km S of Bengkulu, Indonesia on Saturday, December 20, 2008, 00:02:51 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.2 on December 17, 2008.
- Magnitude
- 4.5
- 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 earthquake
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
190 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 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 806 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 · 103 km W of this epicenter
- 7.987 km SW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaSeptember 12, 2007 · 258 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.9103 km S of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 4, 2000 · 39 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.676 km SSW of Sungai Penuh, IndonesiaJune 3, 1909 · 227 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.573 km WSW of Bengkulu, IndonesiaJune 25, 1914 · 86 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.548 km SW of Kotabumi, IndonesiaJune 24, 1933 · 272 km E of this epicenter
- 7.4102 km SSE of Bengkulu, IndonesiaFebruary 13, 2001 · 41 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.478 km NNW of Curup, IndonesiaJune 8, 1943 · 177 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 18 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 450 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1994M6.9
Southern Sumatera, Liwa, Lampung
15 Feb 1994 · 230 km away
207 deaths$170 million damage
- 2000M7.9
Sumatra: Bengkulu, Enggano
4 Jun 2000 · 39 km away · intensity VI
103 deaths$6 million damage
- 1995M6.8
Sumatera, Jambi Province
6 Oct 1995 · 282 km away
84 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 2007M8.4
Sumatra
12 Sep 2007 · 103 km away
25 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1914M7.6
Sumatera
25 Jun 1914 · 77 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1979M6.6
S Sumatera
15 Dec 1979 · 134 km away
8 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.