M6.8 earthquake 123 km NE of Cabatuan, Philippines

Sunday, December 10, 1905, 18:09:58 UTC · 13.445°N, 125.858°E

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 123 km NE of Cabatuan, Philippines on Sunday, December 10, 1905, 18:09:58 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: 6.8; 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

239 kilotons of TNT

That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

43 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Philippine Sea and Sunda 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 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 no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 13 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 52 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1840M6.5
Sorsogon,Masbate Is,Casiguran,Albay
22 Mar 1840 · 220 km away · intensity IX
52 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1897M7.9
Masbate Island
13 May 1897 · 258 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1869M7.0
Masbate Island
16 Aug 1869 · 276 km away · intensity IX
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1814
Se Luzon: Albay
2 Feb 1814 · 215 km away · intensity VII
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1897M8.1
Northern Samar
18 Oct 1897 · 161 km away · intensity IX
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1865M6.0
Se Luzon: Tiwi,Luban,Rinconada
19 Oct 1865 · 256 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

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