M6.5 earthquake 57 km ENE of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia

Friday, September 8, 1911, 22:44:04 UTC · 50.903°N, 156.859°E

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 57 km ENE of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia on Friday, September 8, 1911, 22:44:04 UTC, at a depth of 80.0 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.4 on May 4, 1911.

Magnitude: 6.5; Strong · mw
Depth: 80 km; Intermediate
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

79 kilotons of TNT

That is about 5 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 166 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

170 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and Pacific plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: intermediate

80 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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 100 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 5 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 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 100 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1737
Kamchatka
16 Oct 1737 · 83 km away
100 deathstsunami
1841M8.4
Off Kamchatka
17 May 1841 · 145 km away · intensity XI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1904M8.3
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 192 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1904M8.1
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 192 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1827
Kamchatka
9 Aug 1827 · 259 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1899M7.9
Kamchatka Peninsula
23 Nov 1899 · 275 km away

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

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