Residents along Kenya’s coastline were briefly shaken on Sunday afternoon after a moderate earthquake struck the Indian Ocean, near Mombasa. The tremor, recorded at around 4:17 p.m., registered a magnitude of 4.5, according to seismic monitoring agencies.

The quake’s relatively shallow depth, estimated to be about 10 kilometers below the surface, made the shaking more noticeable in towns close to the epicenter.

Reports indicate that residents in Mombasa, located roughly 78 kilometers from the center of the quake, felt the tremors clearly. Smaller towns such as Kilifi, Malindi, Watamu, Vipingo, Takaungu, and Voi experienced even stronger shaking.

Despite the notable tremors along the coast, the earthquake went largely unnoticed in Nairobi, which sits more than 400 kilometers away from the epicenter.

This recent event marks the strongest earthquake to hit Kenya’s coastal region in more than three decades.

The last time the area experienced a similar or greater magnitude quake was on February 27, 1995, when a 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck southwest of Sunday’s epicenter.

Historical records show that the most powerful earthquake in Kenya’s history happened on March 14, 1990. That quake, measuring 5.5 in magnitude, also originated from the Indian Ocean and remains the strongest on record since 1900.