Reviewed by USGS127y ago
M7.3 earthquake in Kuril Islands
Friday, April 5, 1901, 23:30:00 UTC · 44.500°N, 149.000°E
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck in Kuril Islands on Friday, April 5, 1901, 23:30:00 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.3
- Major · mw
- 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
1.3 megatons of TNT
That is about 89 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 2,818 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
86 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
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 200 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2 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 7 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 12 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1780M7.5
Kuril Islands
29 Jun 1780 · 195 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1900M7.9
Kuril Islands
25 Dec 1900 · 293 km away · intensity IX
- 1896M7.6
Kuril Islands
18 Nov 1896 · 264 km away · intensity IX
- 1847M7.5
Kuril Islands
21 Jun 1847 · 288 km away
- 1901M7.5
Kuril Islands
5 Apr 1901 · 97 km away
- 1881M7.0
Hokkaido Island
25 Oct 1881 · 191 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.