M6.3 earthquake 52 km E of Kuril’sk, Russia

Thursday, February 22, 1996, 14:59:08 UTC · 45.263°N, 148.542°E

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck 52 km E of Kuril’sk, Russia on Thursday, February 22, 1996, 14:59:08 UTC, at a depth of 124.2 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.2 on February 7, 1996.

Magnitude: 6.3; Strong · mwb
Depth: 124 km; Intermediate
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: 100 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

43 kilotons of TNT

That is about 3 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 89 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

176 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: intermediate

124 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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 lists 9 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.7 on February 25, 1996. 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 1,638 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 44 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 46 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1918M8.3
Kuril Islands
7 Sep 1918 · 233 km away
23 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1780M7.5
Kuril Islands
29 Jun 1780 · 208 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1994M8.3
Kuril Islands; Japan: Hokkaido
4 Oct 1994 · 192 km away · intensity IX
11 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1958M8.3
Kuril Islands
6 Nov 1958 · 82 km away · intensity X
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1969M8.2
Shikotan Island, Kurilskiye
11 Aug 1969 · 192 km away · intensity IX
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1978M7.5
Kuril Islands
6 Dec 1978 · 171 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers