Reviewed by USGSRussia122y ago
M7.8 earthquake off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
Friday, September 15, 1905, 06:02:20 UTC · 55.751°N, 163.952°E
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia on Friday, September 15, 1905, 06:02:20 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
- 7.8
- Major · mw
- Depth
- 15 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
8.7 megatons of TNT
That is about 576 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 18,197 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
27 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and North American 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 7 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1849
Kamchatka
28 Sep 1849 · 154 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1792M8.4
Near Kamchatka
22 Aug 1792 · 231 km away · intensity XI
tsunami
- 1737M7.8
Off Kamchatka
4 Nov 1737 · 66 km away · intensity X
- 1790M7.5
Near Kamchatka
2 Dec 1790 · 231 km away · intensity X
- 1849M7.5
Komandorsky Island
28 Oct 1849 · 154 km away · intensity X
- 1858M7.5
Komandorsky Island
22 Jan 1858 · 154 km away · intensity X
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.