Significant earthquakes of 1915

May 1, 1915 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia

May 1, 1915 · M8.1

A magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck Kuril Islands, Russia on May 1, 1915 at 05:00:00 UTC, 25 km below the surface.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date
May 1, 1915
Time
05:00:00 UTC
Place
Kuril Islands, Russia
Magnitude
8.1 (Ms)
Focal depth
25 km (16 mi)
Tsunami
None recorded
Epicenter
47.000° N, 155.000° E
Country
Russia
Region
Kamchatka and Kuril Islands

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

May 1, 1915, 05:00:00 UTC, 47 N, 155 E, shallow depth, magnitude 8.1 MS. (reference #88)

May 1, 1915, 05:00.0 UTC, 47 N, 155 E, magnitude 7.9 MS. (reference #130)

May 1, 1915, Kuril Is, magnitude 8.1 MS. (reference #1002)

May 1, 1915, 05:00.0 UTC, 47 N, 155 E, magnitude 7.9 MS. (reference #1092)

May 1, 1915, 05:00.0 UTC, 47 N, 155 E, magnitude 8.1 MS. (reference #1006)

May 1, 1915, 05:00:10 UTC,48.4 N, 155.5 E, depth 30 km, magnitude 8.3 MS. (reference #223)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

  1. #130 Gutenberg, B. and C.F. Richter (1965). Seismicity of the earth and associated phenomena. Princeton University Press, 1954 (second edition); Hafner Publishing Company, New York and London (facsimile edition), 310 p.
  2. #88 Duda, Seweryn J. (1965). Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt. Tectonophysics, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 409-452. DOI:10.1016/0040-1951(65)90035-1
  3. #1002 Lomnitz, Cinna (1974). Development in Geotectonics #5, Global Tectonics and Earthquake Risk, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1974.
  4. #1006 Richter, Charles F. (1958). Elementary Seismology. W.H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, California, 768 p.
  5. #1092 Abe, Katsuyuki (1981). Magnitudes of Large Shallow Earthquakes from 1904 to 1980. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol. 27, 1981, p. 72-92. DOI:10.1016/0031-9201(81)90088-1
  6. #223 Kondorskaya, N.V., and N.V. Shebalin, editors (1982). New catalog of strong earthquakes in the U.S.S.R. from ancient times through 1977. Report SE-31, World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 608 p.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1915The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1915Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 3029.