Category Archives: Recent Global Seismic Events

On the 6th July 2019 at 03.19 UTC (20:19 on the 5th of July, local time) an M7.1 earthquake occurred in Southern California, 200km north of Los Angeles. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km. There have been reports of injuries and structural damage to buildings, although no fatalities have been reported. The earthquake located approximately 150 km northeast of San Andreas Fault – the major plate boundary in the region – where the Pacific plate moves to the northwest with respect to the North America plate. The location of the earthquake falls within the Eastern California shear zone, an area of high seismic hazard.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

Further information is available through the links below:

https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=775626

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci38457511/executive

On the 18th of June 2019 at 13.22:19 UTC (22.22:19 local time) a M6.5 earthquake occurred approximately 10km offshore the west coast of Honshu, Japan. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km. There were no reports of any injuries at the time of writing. However, a tsunami warning has been issued for the region.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).Further information is available through the links below:

https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=772036

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us600042fx/executive

On the 14th of May 2019 an earthquake with magnitude 7.5 occurred at 12.58.25 UTC (21:58 local time) in the New Britain region of Papua New Guinea. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10km and centered 47km northeast of the town of Kokopo. The earthquake had triggered a tsunami alert for the country and the nearby Solomon Islands, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later said the tsunami threat passed. Strong earthquakes happen regularly in this region; on the 26th of February 2018, 160 people were killed when a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred near the town of Komo in the Hela Province of Papua New Guinea.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

On the 22nd April 2019 an earthquake with magnitude 6.1 occurred at 09:11:11 UTC (17:11 local time) in Northern Philippines. The earthquake was at a depth of 20km and centered near the town of Castillejos in Zambales Province, west of Manila, the capital city. It has been reported that at least 11 people died. Strong earthquakes happen regularly in this region that are caused by the colliding tectonic plates -the Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the larger Pacific and Eurasia plates and the smaller Sunda plate.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

On the 1st March 2019 an earthquake with magnitude 7.0 occurred at 08:50:41 UTC in southern Peru near the border to Bolivia, about 50km north west of Lake Titicaca. According to the EMSC and the USGS the event happened at a relatively great depth of about 257km and hence no major damage is expected. Strong earthquakes happen regularly in this region and are caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate. There is no tsunami threat related to this event because the earthquake is located too deep inside the Earth and too far onshore.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

Further information about this event is available from the following webpages:

EMSC: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=747936

USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000j96d

An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 occurred in Southern Alaska, on the 30th November 2018 at 8:29 a.m. local time (17:29:28 UTC). The quake was centred about 11km north of Anchorage, the largest city in the state, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). A series of aftershocks was recorded following the initial shock, which had a depth of 40.9km, the USGS said. Around 300,000 people live in Anchorage with 100,000 in the surrounding area. A tsunami warning issued for the Cook Inlet and southern Kenai Peninsula regions was later cancelled.

This earthquake occurred in the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, on a fault within the subducting Pacific slab.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred on the 25th October 2018 at 22:54:51 UTC in the Ionian Sea, about 125km southwest from Patras and 30km southwest from the island Zákynthos, see map below. The event occurred at a depth of about 10km and was widely felt in the region, including Greece, Albania, Malta, southern Italy and western parts of Turkey. No fatalities have been reported at time of writing and structural damage appears to be moderate. Strong earthquakes are not uncommon in this region where the African plate subducts beneath the Eurasian plate.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

Further information is available from the following webpages:

EMSC: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=720235

GFZ: https://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/event.php?id=gfz2018uyjt

USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000hhb1/executive

A powerful earthquake with magnitude 7.4 occurred at 10:02:44 UTC in Indonesia, Sulawesi Island, about 75km north of the city Palu. The earthquake hypocentre was located at a shallow depth of around 10km which resulted in locally strong ground shaking. Palu was hit by tsunami waves up to 6m high, causing widespread damage. The earthquake and tsunami have caused havoc with communication and transport infrastructure in the area. Over 800 fatalities have been reported at time of writing and it is feared that the actual number is in the thousands. The earthquake was preceded by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake about 3 hours earlier and reports indicate that as a result of it one person was killed, several injured and dozens of houses got damaged. The magnitude 7.4 quake was followed by many aftershocks. Within the first hour at least four earthquakes with magnitudes between 5.5 and 6 were observed. Indonesia is located in a tectonically unstable region and is frequently hit by strong earthquakes. In this region the Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate are pushed under the Eurasian plate. This causes the earthquake activity and also the large number of active volcanoes in Indonesia.

The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).

Further information about this event is available from the following webpages:

EMSC: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=715248#summary

GFZ: https://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/event.php?id=gfz2018tabt

USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000h3p4#executive