Reviewed by USGS109y ago
M6.2 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands
Sunday, September 8, 1918, 05:40:33 UTC · 44.420°N, 153.321°E
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Sunday, September 8, 1918, 05:40:33 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M8.1 on September 7, 1918.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- 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
33 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 70 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
118 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 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 6 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 · 102 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.2268 km SE of Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 22, 1910 · 280 km W of this epicenter
- 6.5east of the Kuril IslandsFebruary 23, 1906 · 114 km W of this epicenter
- 6.5252 km E of Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 3, 1908 · 225 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.3192 km E of Kuril’sk, RussiaJune 7, 1915 · 258 km NW of this epicenter
- 5.9Kuril IslandsApril 28, 1917 · 131 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 7 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 · 187 km away
23 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1780M7.5
Kuril Islands
29 Jun 1780 · 194 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1913M7.5
Kuril Islands
19 Jan 1913 · 204 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1918M7.8
Kuril Islands
8 Nov 1918 · 145 km away
tsunami
- 1908M7.6
Kuril Islands
6 Nov 1908 · 270 km away
- 1847M7.5
Kuril Islands
21 Jun 1847 · 204 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.