M4.8 earthquake 119 km WSW of Padang, Indonesia

Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 01:47:13 UTC · 1.453°S, 99.403°E

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck 119 km WSW of Padang, Indonesia on Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 01:47:13 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). USGS received 6 “Did You Feel It?” reports, with a maximum reported intensity of IV (light). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.0 on December 23, 2009.

Magnitude: 4.8; Light · mb
Depth: 10 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 6; Max intensity IV
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

239 tons of TNT

That is about 1/63 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 2 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

134 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

10 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

Reports sent by people to USGS, grouped by place (most reports first). Intensity uses the Modified Mercalli scale (I–X): what people felt, not the magnitude.

Place	Intensity	Reports	Distance
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	II · Weak	2	571 km
Padang Pariaman, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia	IV · Light	1	122 km
Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia	IV · Light	1	119 km

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 7 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on December 25, 2009. 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 479 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 27 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 3,638 recorded deaths. The most severe:

2009M7.5
Sumatra: Padang
30 Sep 2009 · 96 km away
1,117 deaths$2.2 billion damagetsunami
1861M8.5
Lagundi, Simuk, Tello I
16 Feb 1861 · 217 km away · intensity IX
1,105 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1861M7.0
Sw. Sumatra
9 Mar 1861 · 225 km away
950 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1797M8.0
Sw. Sumatra
10 Feb 1797 · 168 km away · intensity IX
300 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1995M6.8
Sumatera, Jambi Province
6 Oct 1995 · 235 km away
84 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
2007M6.4
Sumatra: Southern
6 Mar 2007 · 162 km away · intensity VIII
67 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

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

Nearby trackers