Earthquakes in Russia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 967 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Russia. 109 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 9 on November 4, 1952 (89 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 62 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on October 22 (269 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia). The strongest: magnitude 6.9 on October 16 (76 km NE of Ozernovskiy, Russia).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 10,000 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 176 here, back to 64 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 26 of the events here, 12,721 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.8 on September 18, 2025 (140 km E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia). NOAA’s record here begins in 64 BCE with an earthquake (Pantikapey). It grows thinner going back: 111 of the 176 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 107 tsunamis that began in or off Russia, and 7 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 90 m, on December 11, 2018. The deadliest, on November 4, 1952, killed 4,009 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 22 significant eruptions of 14 volcanoes in or off Russia. The largest was Ksudach in AD 240, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Raikoke in 1778, which killed 15 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- September 18, 2025Earthquake · M 7.8140 km E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 29, 2025Earthquake · M 8.82025 Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia Earthquake · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 11, 2018Tsunami · 90 m hereBureya, Far Eastern RussiaNOAA NCEI
- May 27, 1995Earthquake · M 7.185 km S of Tungor, Russia · 1,989 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 13, 1963Earthquake · M 8.51963 Kuril Islands EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 4, 1952Earthquake · M 9.089 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia · 10,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 4, 1952Tsunami · 23 m hereKamchatka · 4,009 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 3, 1923Earthquake · M 8.41923 Kamchatka, Russia Earthquake · 3 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 9, 1830Earthquake410 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- August 22, 1792Earthquake · M 8.4 (est.)Near KamchatkaNOAA NCEI
- 1778Eruption · VEI 4Raikoke · 15 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 240Eruption · VEI 6KsudachNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 64 BCEEarthquake · M 6.4 (est.)PantikapeyNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Russia when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Russia is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Russia, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history