Kamchatka-Kuril Trench
Russia · subduction interface · 2493.4 km of mapped active fault in 36 traces
rupture as of 7 November 2026.
an M6.9 event and a sequence behind it
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 3 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 1.10 |
| Rate against normal | 2.73x |
| Largest | M6.9 |
| Gap to the second largest | 2.1 magnitude units |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 403 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 13.43 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 2493.4 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 36 |
| Tectonic setting | subduction interface |
| Slip types | Subduction_Thrust |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 700.0 km |
| Extent | 42.08 to 57.25 latitude, 146.20 to 167.41 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 32 significant earthquakes and 25 tsunamis attributed to this system since 1737.
The deadliest was the 4 November 1952 magnitude 9.0 earthquake (Russia: Kamchatka Peninsula), which killed 10,000 people.
The most recent entry is the 29 July 2025 magnitude 8.8 earthquake (Russia: Kamchatka Peninsula), which killed one person.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 10,058 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 November 1952 | tsunami (waves to 23 m) | Kamchatka | 10,000 dead, $1 million damage |
| 4 November 1952 | magnitude 9.0 earthquake | Russia: Kamchatka Peninsula | 10,000 dead, $1 million damage |
| 7 September 1918 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | 23 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 7 September 1918 | tsunami (waves to 12 m) | S. Kuril Islands | 23 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 13 April 1923 | tsunami (waves to 20 m) | Kamchatka | 18 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 13 April 1923 | magnitude 7.2 earthquake | Russia: near Kamchatka | 18 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 4 October 1994 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands; Japan: Hokkaido | 11 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 4 October 1994 | tsunami (waves to 10.4 m) | S. Kuril Islands | 11 dead, 2 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 3 February 1923 | magnitude 8.4 earthquake | Russia: Kamchatka | 3 dead, $2 million damage |
| 3 February 1923 | tsunami (waves to 8 m) | Kamchatka | 3 dead, $2 million damage |
| 29 July 2025 | magnitude 8.8 earthquake | Russia: Kamchatka Peninsula | 1 dead, $10 million damage |
| 29 July 2025 | tsunami (waves to 17 m) | Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia | 1 dead, $10 million damage |
| 4 May 1959 | magnitude 8.2 earthquake | Russia: near East Coast of Kamchatka | 1 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 22 March 1894 | magnitude 7.9 earthquake | Japan: off Coast of Honshu | 1 dead, 14 homes destroyed, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 22 March 1894 | tsunami (waves to 4 m) | Se. Hokkaido Island | 1 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 15 November 2006 | tsunami (waves to 21.9 m) | S. Kuril Islands | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 13 October 1963 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | damage under $1 million |
| 17 May 1841 | magnitude 8.4 earthquake | Russia: off Kamchatka | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 22 August 1792 | magnitude 8.4 earthquake | Russia: near Kamchatka | - |
| 15 November 2006 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 6 November 1958 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 25 June 1904 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Russia: off Kamchatka | damage under $1 million |
| 11 August 1969 | magnitude 8.2 earthquake | Russia: Shikotan Island, Kurilskiye | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 13 January 2007 | magnitude 8.1 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | - |
| 1 May 1915 | magnitude 8.1 earthquake | Russia: Kuril Islands | - |
These are the 25 deadliest and largest of 57 entries. A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Who to listen to if you live here
EMERCOM, Ministry of Emergency Situations is the agency that tells people on this system what to do. https://mchs.gov.ru/ (in Russian)
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.