M7.8 earthquake 266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia

Saturday, May 1, 1915, 05:00:10 UTC · 48.392°N, 155.000°E

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck 266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia on Saturday, May 1, 1915, 05:00:10 UTC, at a depth of 30.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude: 7.8; Major · mw
Depth: 30 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 200 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

8.4 megatons of TNT

That is about 557 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 17,579 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

90 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

30 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 lists 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 200 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.6 on May 3, 1915. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 3 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 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:

1915M8.1
Kuril Islands
1 May 1915 · 155 km away
1913M7.7
Kuril Islands
1 Aug 1913 · 106 km away
1737M7.5
Kuril Islands
17 Dec 1737 · 230 km away · intensity IX
tsunami
1742M7.5
Kuril Islands
18 Nov 1742 · 275 km away
tsunami
1853
Kuril Islands
Nov 1853 · 172 km away
tsunami

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

Nearby trackers