Magnitude 9.1 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA

2004 December 26 00:58:53 UTC

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Earthquake Details

Magnitude
Date-Time	Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 7:58:53 AM = local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	3.316°N, 95.854°E
Depth	30 km (18.6 miles) set by location program
Region	OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances	250 km (155 miles) SSE of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia 300 km (185 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia 1260 km (780 miles) SSW of BANGKOK, Thailand 1590 km (990 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 5.6 km (3.5 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters	Nst=276, Nph=276, Dmin=654.9 km, Rmss=1.04 sec, Gp= 29°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=U
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usslav

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Earthquake Summary

Felt Reports

This is the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake. In total, 227,898 people were killed or were missing and presumed dead and about 1.7 million people were displaced by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa. The earthquake was felt (IX) at Banda Aceh, (VIII) at Meulaboh and (IV) at Medan, Sumatra and (III-V) in parts of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The tsunami caused more casualties than any other in recorded history and was recorded nearly world-wide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Seiches were observed in India and the United States. Subsidence and landslides were observed in Sumatra. A mud volcano near Baratang, Andaman Islands became active on December 28 and gas emissions were reported in Arakan, Myanmar.

Tectonic Summary

The devastating megathrust earthquake of December 26th, 2004 occurred on the interface of the India and Burma plates and was caused by the release of stresses that develop as the India plate subducts beneath the overriding Burma plate. The India plate begins its descent into the mantle at the Sunda trench which lies to the west of the earthquake's epicenter. The trench is the surface expression of the plate interface between the Australia and India plates, situated to the southwest of the trench, and the Burma and Sunda plates, situated to the northeast. MORE...

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