Reviewed by USGS101y ago
M5.8 earthquake in Kuril Islands
Saturday, February 19, 1927, 03:54:58 UTC · 47.927°N, 153.389°E
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck in Kuril Islands on Saturday, February 19, 1927, 03:54:58 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.0 on February 16, 1927.
- Magnitude
- 5.8
- 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
6 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 13 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
148 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 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 38 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.8266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 1, 1915 · 130 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.2Kuril IslandsJanuary 18, 1925 · 26 km E of this epicenter
- 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 200 km E of this epicenter
- 7.0Kuril IslandsFebruary 16, 1927 · 154 km S of this epicenter
- 6.6east of the Kuril IslandsApril 26, 1922 · 229 km S of this epicenter
- 6.6Kuril IslandsMay 4, 1922 · 152 km S of this epicenter
- 6.6240 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 3, 1915 · 163 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.5Kuril IslandsJanuary 19, 1913 · 171 km SW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 6 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1913M7.5
Kuril Islands
19 Jan 1913 · 239 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1922M7.5
Kuril Islands
24 Oct 1922 · 158 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1915M8.1
Kuril Islands
1 May 1915 · 159 km away
- 1913M7.7
Kuril Islands
1 Aug 1913 · 165 km away
- 1847M7.5
Kuril Islands
21 Jun 1847 · 239 km away
- 1853
Kuril Islands
Nov 1853 · 113 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.