Home » Recent Global Seismic Events
Category Archives: Recent Global Seismic Events
2018-10-25, M6.8, Greece
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
2018-09-28, M7.4, Indonesia
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
2018-09-05, M6.6, Hokkaido Japan
On the 5th September 2018 an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.6 occurred at 18:08:08 UTC near Hokkaido in Northern Japan. At least nine people have been killed, millions of homes lost power and landslides caused considerable damage to houses and infrastructure.
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 can be obtained from this EMSC webpage:
https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=711209
2018-08-21, M7.3, Venezuela
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred offshore Venezuela east-northeast of Carupano on the 21st August 2018 at 21:31:42 UTC at a depth of about 127km. While the event was felt as far as Trinidad, Barbados, Grenada and Colombia only limited damage has been reported because the event occurred at relatively great depth. No injuries or fatalities have been reported at time of writing. The earthquake happened in a region where the South America plate subducts beneath the Caribbean 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:
USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000gez7#executive
EMSC: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=708406
2018-08-19, M8.2, Fiji Region
On the August 18, 2018, M 8.2 earthquake near Fiji occurred as the result of deep, normal faulting approximately 560 km beneath the South Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers to the west of the Tonga Trench. There were no reports of casualties.
Earthquakes that have focal depths greater than 300 km are commonly termed “deep-focus” earthquakes. Deep-focus earthquakes cause less damage on the ground surface above their foci than similar-magnitude shallow-focus earthquakes, but large deep-focus earthquakes may be felt at great distance from their epicenters.
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).
2018-02-25, M7.5 Papua New Guinea
On 25th February, 2018, an earthquake measuring magnitude 7.5 occurred at 4a.m local time, in a rural, jungle area of the Southern Highlands in New Guinea, Papaua New Guinea. It wasn’t immediately clear if there was damage. No tsunami watches or warnings were issued because of the quake.
At the location of this earthquake, the Australia plate is converging with the Pacific plate and it occurred as the result of thrust faulting at shallow a depth. Thrust-faulting events of the size of the February 25th, 2018 earthquake are typically about 85×30 km (length x width).
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).
2018-02-16, M7.2 Mexico
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred in the Oaxaca region in southern Mexico on the 16th February 2018 at 23:39:39 UTC at a depth of about 25km. The epicentre lies onshore about 150km from the Pacific coast, see map below. About 50 homes were damaged and nearly 1 million homes were left without electricity. While no fatalaties related directly to the event have been reported two government officials died when a helicopter surveying damage crashed.
Further information is available from the following webpages:
EMSC: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=648846
GFZ: http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/event.php?id=gfz2018dhvz
USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us2000d3km#executive
More information about the INSN is available via this link.
2018-02-06, M6.4 Taiwan
On 6th February, 2018, an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.4 occurred northeast of Hualien, Taiwan. So far at least seven people have been killed and more than 250 injuries have been reported. Aftershocks continue to occur in Taiwan since the earthquake.
Taiwan lies in a region of complex tectonics near the intersection of three major tectonic plates – the Philippine Sea plate to the east and southeast, the Eurasia plate to the north and west, and the Sunda plate to the southwest. The February 6th 2018 earthquake is the largest in a sequence of events in the same region over the past several days. Because of its plate boundary location, Taiwan commonly experiences moderate-to-large earthquakes.
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).
2018-01-23, M8.0 Gulf of Alaska
A major earthquake with magnitude 8.0 occurred in the Gulf of Alaska on the 23rd January 2018 at 09:31:41 UTC at a depth of about 25km. A tsunami warning was issued but has been cancelled. The Aleutian arc extends approximately 3,000 km from the Gulf of Alaska in the east to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the west. It marks the region where the Pacific plate subducts into the mantle beneath the North America plate. This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Aleutian Islands and the deep offshore Aleutian Trench. The Aleutian arc is a seismically active region, evidenced by the many moderate to large earthquakes occurring each year.
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=642932
GFZ: https://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/event.php?id=gfz2018boxy
USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us2000cmy3#origin
More information about the INSN is available via this link.
2017-11-12, M7.3 Iran
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred on the 12th November 2017 at 18:18 UTC in the northwest of Iran at a depth of about 23 km. The epicentre location is close to the border with Iraq, 209 km northeast of Baghdad. At least 330 fatalities have been reported to date and thousands of people have been injured. The earthquake rupture is related to plate convergence between the Arabia and the Eurasia plate and strong damaging earthquakes in the region are not uncommon. The most damaging event in recent times was a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in June 1990 in the Rasht-Qazvin-Zanjan area. That event caused 40,000 to 50,000 fatalities and left over 600,000 people homeless.
The 12th November 2017 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=629693
- GFZ: http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/special/gfz2017wexs
- USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us2000bmcg#executive
More information about the INSN is available via this link.
