Reviewed by USGSItaly120y ago
M5.9 earthquake 5 km NW of Africo Vecchio, Italy
Wednesday, October 23, 1907, 20:28:08 UTC · 38.101°N, 15.942°E
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 5 km NW of Africo Vecchio, Italy on Wednesday, October 23, 1907, 20:28:08 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
- 5.9
- Moderate · 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
10 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 20 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
32 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 75 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 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 44 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 64,199 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1783M6.9
Tyrrhenian Calabria
5 Feb 1783 · 22 km away · intensity XI
30,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1857M6.5
Campania, Potenza
16 Dec 1857 · 245 km away · intensity X
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1757
Siracusa (Syracuse)
6 Aug 1757 · 148 km away · intensity IX
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1857
Calabria,Montemurro
16 Sep 1857 · 150 km away
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1783M5.9
Messina Straits
6 Feb 1783 · 30 km away · intensity VIII
1,500 deathstsunami
- 1836
Rossano,Crosia,Craco,Basilicata
24 Apr 1836 · 176 km away · intensity XI
589 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.