February 23, 1980 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Kuril Islands, Russia on February 23, 1980 at 05:51:03 UTC, 44 km below the surface. It caused a tsunami.
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 23, 1980
- Time
- 05:51:03 UTC
- Place
- Kuril Islands, Russia
- Magnitude
- 7 (Ms)
- Magnitude scales
- Ms 7 · mb 6.3
- Focal depth
- 44 km (27 mi)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 43.530° N, 146.753° E
- Country
- Russia
- Region
- Kamchatka and Kuril Islands
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0 | Ms, surface-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 7.1 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 7.1 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Felt (VII) at Malokurilskoye, (IV) at Kurilsk and (III) at Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Also felt (IV JMA) at Nemuro and Kushiro, Hokkaido and (III JMA) in the Obihiro-Urakawa area, Hokkaido. Ten centimeter tsunami reported at Nemuro.
(above from Reference #1053)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- April 25, 1843, Yezo, Kushiro, Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan
- June 17, 1973, Hokkaido Island, Japan
- October 4, 1994, Hokkaido, Kuril Islands, Japan, Russia
- March 22, 1894, Off Coast of Honshu, Japan
- May 28, 1938, E. Hokkaido Island, Japan
- January 29, 1968, Kuril Islands, Russia
- September 27, 1974, Hokkaido, Kuril-Japan, Russia
- June 24, 1973, Kuril Islands, Russia
- June 26, 1973, Kuril Islands, Russia
- October 25, 1881, Hokkaido Island, Japan
- November 18, 1896, Kuril Islands, Russia
- September 11, 1935, Kuril Islands, Russia
- June 4, 1893, Kuril Islands, Russia
- December 25, 1900, Kuril Islands, Russia
- August 11, 1969, Shikotan Island, Kurilskiye, Russia
More
Significant earthquakes of 1980The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1980Recent 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 6459. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp00015mw, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.