Reviewed by USGS101y ago
M6.3 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands
Thursday, March 3, 1927, 16:50:10 UTC · 45.134°N, 153.433°E
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Thursday, March 3, 1927, 16:50:10 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on February 16, 1927.
- Magnitude
- 6.3
- 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
36 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 75 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
61 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and Pacific 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 40 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.11918 Kuril Islands EarthquakeSeptember 7, 1918 · 89 km W of this epicenter
- 7.8east of the Kuril IslandsNovember 8, 1918 · 118 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2159 km ENE of Kuril’sk, RussiaNovember 6, 1908 · 285 km W of this epicenter
- 7.1147 km E of Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 18, 1920 · 290 km W of this epicenter
- 7.0Kuril IslandsFebruary 16, 1927 · 158 km N of this epicenter
- 6.9243 km E of Kuril’sk, RussiaDecember 31, 1922 · 199 km W of this epicenter
- 6.8174 km E of Kuril’sk, RussiaFebruary 20, 1925 · 266 km W of this epicenter
- 6.6east of the Kuril IslandsApril 26, 1922 · 108 km NE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 35 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1918M8.3
Kuril Islands
7 Sep 1918 · 157 km away
23 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1780M7.5
Kuril Islands
29 Jun 1780 · 176 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1913M7.5
Kuril Islands
19 Jan 1913 · 147 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1922M7.5
Kuril Islands
24 Oct 1922 · 243 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1915M8.1
Kuril Islands
1 May 1915 · 240 km away
- 1918M7.8
Kuril Islands
8 Nov 1918 · 168 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.