February 3, 1923 Earthquake: Kamchatka, Russia

Name: February 3, 1923 Earthquake: Kamchatka, Russia
Start: 1923-02-03
Location: Kamchatka, Russia

February 3, 1923 · M8.4 · 3 deaths · $1.5 million

A magnitude 8.4 earthquake struck Kamchatka, Russia on February 3, 1923 at 16:01:50 UTC, 15 km below the surface. It killed 3 people, counting the tsunami it caused.

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: February 3, 1923
Time: 16:01:50 UTC
Place: Kamchatka, Russia
Magnitude: 8.4 (Mw)
Magnitude scales: Mw 8.4 · Ms 8.3
Focal depth: 15 km (9 mi)
Intensity: XI, extreme shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 54.486° N, 160.472° E
Country: Russia
Region: Kamchatka and Kuril Islands
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 3 with its tsunami and other effects
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million); $1.5 million with its tsunami and other effects
Houses destroyed: Few (about 1 to 50); Some (about 51 to 100) with its tsunami and other effects

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

From Wikipedia

The February 1923 Kamchatka earthquake occurred on 4 February 1923. The epicenter was on the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The earthquake triggered a tsunami with wave heights up to eight metres, causing damage as far away as Hawaii. The maximum perceived Mercalli intensity was XI (Extreme). The tsunami caused two deaths in Kamchatka and one in Hawaii.

The earthquake happened 26 years before the U.S. had the capability to issue tsunami warnings, but Thomas Jaggar, the director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, tried to warn the Hilo harbormaster about the possibility of a tsunami. His warning was not taken seriously and one fisherman was killed when the tsunami hit.

On 14 April that same year, a smaller Ms7.2 earthquake struck north of where the February earthquake was. It generated a much larger tsunami with run-ups of up to 30 meters, killing at least 36 people. This earthquake is considered a doublet of the April event because its moment magnitude was recalculated to be at ~8.0.

Text from Wikipedia, “February 1923 Kamchatka earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
8.4	Mw, moment	USGS, official solution	Preferred · Preliminary
8.4	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.4

References for the magnitude and location

The USGS’s notes on how this earthquake’s official magnitude and location were set.

Official Magnitude Reference:
Okal, E. A. (1992).
Use of the mantle magnitude Mm for the reassessment of the moment of historical earthquakes.
Pure and Applied Geophysics, 139(1), 17-57.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

1923, Feb 23, 16:01:46 UTC. The catastrophic earthquake of February 3, 1923 was described by the Kamchatka seismic station observer, P. P. Novograblenov:

The first tremors, the strongest during the earthquake, lasted 30-33 minutes in Petropavlovsk and Ust-Kamchatka; they continued almost 3 days, gradually weakening in Ostravnaya, Kolygir, and Zhupanov. Tremors continued almost uninterrupted for nearly 2 weeks in the Olga Bay. They lasted almost a week with brief intervals in the lower course of the Kamchatka River.

Three tsunami waves followed the earthquake on the Kamchatka shores, 450 km from Khalatyrka up to the Ust-Kamchatka.

In the course of 10 minutes, the bottom of Kolygir Bay was lain bare and the sea wave receded from the shore 2 km. Several moments later the bottom of the bay subsided again and the water crashed onto the bank with a terrible force.

The ice at a low place near Semlyachik seemed scattered almost 1100 m and 850 m from the shore; the ice remained at a height of 6.5 m above sea level in the highlands.

Tsunamis reached the islands of Hawaii.

The largest macroseismic effect was noted on the bank of Kronot Bay and on the southern shore of Kamchatka Gulf. Hunters noted instances of snowslides and large land creeps; fissures developed in the snow. Nomads' tents (yourtas) were destroyed and it was impossible to stand (intensity 8-9).

Stacks were ruined and buildings were loosened in Ust-Kamchatka and in the Kolygir and Ostravnaya bays (intensity 7-8).

Nothing was destroyed in Petropavlovsk, but a strong and continuous ground tremor was felt; it was noted that much ground and silt protuded from the small Khalatyr Lake (intensity 6).

The earthquake was felt fairly strongly in Kozyrevsk and Klyuchi (intensity 6), but it was barely noticeable in Tigil (intensity 2-3). It was accompanied by numerous shocks.

(above from reference #223)

Different Reports of Epicenters amd Magnitudes

TimeLatitudeLongitudeDepth (km)MagnitudeIntensityReference #16:01 UTC54N161E 8.3 15016:02 UTC54N161Eshallow8.3 7916:01:41 UTC54N161E198.3 13016:01:46 UTC53N161E408.511223 8.3 (Mw) 131416:01:50 UTC54.486N160.472E158.4 (Mw) 13456, 13546 (magnitude only)

Sources NCEI cites

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

#150 Iida, Kumizi (1984). Catalog of tsunamis in Japan and its neighboring countries. Aichi Institute of Technology, Yachigusa, Yakusa-cho, Toyota-shi, 470-03, Japan, 52 p.
#79 Iida, Kumizi, Doak C. Cox, and George Pararas-Carayannis (1967). Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, HIG-67-10, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 275 p. Bibliography to the Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, December 1967, 27 p.
#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.
#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.
#1314 Kanamori, Hiroo (1977). The energy release of great earthquakes. Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 82, p. 2981-2987.
#13546 Hayes, G.P., Smoczyk, G.M., Villaseñor, A.H., Furlong, K.P., and Benz, H.M. (2020). Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2018: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3446, scale 1:22,500,000, DOI: 10.3133/sim3446
#13456 U.S. Geological Survey (2017 to present). Earthquake Hazards Program, Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Comprehensive Catalog of Earthquake Events and Products.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1923 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1923 Recent earthquakes near here This 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 3212. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event official19230203160150_30, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.