QuakeScout
Magnitude7.7

Reviewed by USGSJapan108y ago

M7.7 earthquake 277 km SSE of Kushiro, Japan

Saturday, May 3, 1919, 00:52:03 UTC · 40.655°N, 145.626°E

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 277 km SSE of Kushiro, Japan on Saturday, May 3, 1919, 00:52:03 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
7.7
Major · 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

5.5 megatons of TNT

That is about 368 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 11,614 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

85 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 200 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 23 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.7217 km ESE of Kamaishi, JapanJuly 6, 1905 · 280 km SW of this epicenter
  2. 7.5Near the east coast of Honshu, JapanAugust 9, 1901 · 281 km W of this epicenter
  3. 7.2Near the east coast of Honshu, JapanAugust 9, 1901 · 265 km W of this epicenter
  4. 7.1123 km SE of Honchō, JapanJuly 29, 1917 · 169 km W of this epicenter
  5. 7.1Off the coast of Hokkaido, JapanDecember 25, 1900 · 263 km N of this epicenter
  6. 7.0Near the east coast of Honshu, JapanJune 15, 1901 · 290 km SW of this epicenter
  7. 7.0Off the east coast of Honshu, JapanMay 2, 1902 · 231 km SW of this epicenter
  8. 7.0114 km E of Miyako, JapanOctober 11, 1913 · 220 km SW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 21 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 27,957 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1896M8.3

    Sanriku

    15 Jun 1896 · 189 km away

    27,122 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami

  2. 1793M8.3

    Sanriku,Rikuzen,Rikuchu

    17 Feb 1793 · 277 km away

    745 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  3. 1843M8.4

    Hokkaido: Yezo, Kushiro, Nemuro

    25 Apr 1843 · 153 km away

    45 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  4. 1856M8.0

    Oshima

    23 Aug 1856 · 180 km away · intensity V

    26 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  5. 1901M8.2

    Off Northeast Coast Honshu

    9 Aug 1901 · 281 km away

    18 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  6. 1894M7.9

    Off Coast Of Honshu

    22 Mar 1894 · 207 km away · intensity IX

    1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages