Reviewed by USGS112y ago
M6.1 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands
Friday, May 14, 1915, 14:23:10 UTC · 47.161°N, 155.387°E
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Friday, May 14, 1915, 14:23:10 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.3 on May 14, 1915.
- 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
19 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 39 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
21 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 8 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.8266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 1, 1915 · 140 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 117 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.6240 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 3, 1915 · 156 km N of this epicenter
- 6.5Kuril IslandsJanuary 19, 1913 · 296 km W of this epicenter
- 6.3280 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 2, 1915 · 119 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3251 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 14, 1915 · 156 km N of this epicenter
- 6.0250 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaApril 12, 1915 · 149 km N of this epicenter
- 6.0east of the Kuril IslandsMay 12, 1915 · 52 km N of this epicenter
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:
- 1913M7.5
Kuril Islands
19 Jan 1913 · 289 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1915M8.1
Kuril Islands
1 May 1915 · 34 km away
- 1913M7.7
Kuril Islands
1 Aug 1913 · 39 km away
- 1847M7.5
Kuril Islands
21 Jun 1847 · 289 km away
- 1853
Kuril Islands
Nov 1853 · 107 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.