Reviewed by USGSItaly122y ago
M7.2 earthquake 5 km W of San Nicolò, Italy
Friday, September 8, 1905, 01:43:02 UTC · 38.636°N, 15.784°E
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck 5 km W of San Nicolò, Italy on Friday, September 8, 1905, 01:43:02 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.2
- Major · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- VII
- Very strong (ShakeMap)
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
919 kilotons of TNT
That is about 61 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,928 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
36 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and African plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
15 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 no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 53 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 74,894 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1783M6.9
Tyrrhenian Calabria
5 Feb 1783 · 41 km away · intensity XI
30,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1857M6.5
Campania, Potenza
16 Dec 1857 · 186 km away · intensity X
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1757
Siracusa (Syracuse)
6 Aug 1757 · 195 km away · intensity IX
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1857
Calabria,Montemurro
16 Sep 1857 · 100 km away
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1805
Molise, Rosolone, Napoli (Naples), Isernia
26 Jul 1805 · 300 km away · intensity XI
5,600 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1883
Ischia Is: Casamicciola, Forino, Lacco Ameno
28 Jul 1883 · 280 km away · intensity X
2,313 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.