Reviewed by USGSCyprus104y ago
M6.1 earthquake 45 km SSE of Ayia Napa, Cyprus
Monday, February 18, 1924, 17:03:58 UTC · 34.588°N, 34.123°E
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 45 km SSE of Ayia Napa, Cyprus on Monday, February 18, 1924, 17:03:58 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.4 on September 29, 1918.
- Magnitude
- 6.1
- 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
22 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 46 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
4 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian 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 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 4 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 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 64,520 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1759M7.4
Baalbec; Syria: Damascus, Antioch
25 Nov 1759 · 204 km away · intensity IX
30,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1822
Antakya; Syria: Halab,Dimashq (Damascus);
13 Aug 1822 · 232 km away · intensity XI
20,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1837M6.4
Zefat (Safed); Lebanon: Beirut (Beyrout)
1 Jan 1837 · 218 km away · intensity X
6,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1838
Tel Aviv-Yafo (Jaffa),Palestine
1838 · 290 km away
3,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1759M6.6
Zefat (Safed)
30 Oct 1759 · 218 km away · intensity IX
2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1872M7.3
Antakya (Antioch), Suedije
3 Apr 1872 · 260 km away · intensity X
1,800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.