Reviewed by USGS51y ago
M4.4 earthquake in Kermadec Islands region
Sunday, February 22, 1976, 23:34:34 UTC · 28.469°S, 176.119°W
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck in Kermadec Islands region on Sunday, February 22, 1976, 23:34:34 UTC, at a depth of 41.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 41 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
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
17 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
41 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 50 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 286 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.01976 Kermadec Islands, New Zealand EarthquakeJanuary 14, 1976 · 150 km W of this epicenter
- 7.5Kermadec Islands regionFebruary 27, 1955 · 53 km E of this epicenter
- 7.5Kermadec Islands, New ZealandNovember 16, 1917 · 227 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.3Kermadec Islands regionSeptember 14, 1959 · 114 km W of this epicenter
- 7.3Kermadec Islands, New ZealandMarch 26, 1963 · 227 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.2Kermadec Islands regionJuly 2, 1974 · 70 km S of this epicenter
- 7.2Kermadec Islands, New ZealandAugust 2, 1941 · 205 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.2Kermadec Islands, New ZealandApril 17, 1919 · 296 km SW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1976M7.9
Kermadec Islands
14 Jan 1976 · 152 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1917M8.0
Kermadec Islands
1 May 1917 · 118 km away
tsunami
- 1955M7.8
Kermadec Islands
27 Feb 1955 · 80 km away
- 1976M7.8
Kermadec Islands
14 Jan 1976 · 194 km away · intensity VIII
- 1959M7.7
Kermadec Islands
14 Sep 1959 · 86 km away
- 1943M7.6
S Of
14 Sep 1943 · 190 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.