Reviewed by USGSItaly Earthquake and Tsunami119y ago
M7.1 earthquake in The 1908 Messina, Italy Earthquake and Tsunami
Monday, December 28, 1908, 04:20:27 UTC · 37.965°N, 15.487°E
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in The 1908 Messina, Italy Earthquake and Tsunami on Monday, December 28, 1908, 04:20:27 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.2 on September 8, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 7.1
- 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
651 kilotons of TNT
That is about 43 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,365 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
2 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 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 45 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 144,199 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1908M7.0
Messina, Sicily, Calabria
28 Dec 1908 · 24 km away · intensity XI
80,000 deaths$116 million damagetsunami
- 1783M6.9
Tyrrhenian Calabria
5 Feb 1783 · 56 km away · intensity XI
30,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1857M6.5
Campania, Potenza
16 Dec 1857 · 263 km away · intensity X
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1757
Siracusa (Syracuse)
6 Aug 1757 · 116 km away · intensity IX
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1857
Calabria,Montemurro
16 Sep 1857 · 178 km away
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1783M5.9
Messina Straits
6 Feb 1783 · 31 km away · intensity VIII
1,500 deathstsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.