Reviewed by USGSRussia120y ago
M6.5 earthquake 252 km E of Kuril’sk, Russia
Sunday, May 3, 1908, 00:48:38 UTC · 45.648°N, 151.050°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 252 km E of Kuril’sk, Russia on Sunday, May 3, 1908, 00:48:38 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on February 23, 1906.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · 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
71 kilotons of TNT
That is about 5 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 150 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
100 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: 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 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 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 5 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 · 40 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1908M7.6
Kuril Islands
6 Nov 1908 · 109 km away
- 1847M7.5
Kuril Islands
21 Jun 1847 · 83 km away
- 1901M7.5
Kuril Islands
5 Apr 1901 · 249 km away
- 1853
Kuril Islands
Nov 1853 · 272 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.