Recent Earthquakes

Earthquakes occur constantly around the globe and intermittently in Ireland. The destructive power of earthquakes is undeniable, causing widespread devastation to communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems. However, studying earthquakes is crucial to mitigating their negative impacts. By understanding the underlying geological processes and fault systems that trigger seismic activity, scientists can develop early warning systems, effective building codes, and improved disaster response strategies

Vanuatu, 17th December 2024

At 01:47:27 UTC (12:47:27 local time), a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the west coast of Etafe Island, Vanuatu, approximately 20 kilometers from the capital, Port Vila. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 57 kilometers. As of this report, the earthquake has resulted in multiple casualties, significant structural damage, and several landslides. The US Geological Survey (USGS) initially issued a tsunami warning, predicting wave heights between 30 centimeters and 1 meter above the tide level for parts of Vanuatu's coastline. However, the warning was lifted less than two hours after the quake. Vanuatu is located near the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, where the Australian plate subducts beneath the Pacific plate. This subduction zone is highly seismically active, with 24 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher occurring within 250 kilometers of this event. The largest recorded earthquake in the region was a magnitude 7.9 event that occurred approximately 86 kilometers to the southwest in December 1950.

Offshore Cape Mendocino, California, America, 5th November 2024

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck ~55 km off the coast of northern California at 18:44:21 UTC (10:44:21 local time). The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of approximately 10 km. A tsunami warning was also temporarily issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center after the earthquake, but was later cancelled. Cape Mendocino has a complex geological setting. It is the meeting point of three tectonic plates: the Pacific, North American, and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates. This convergence leads to frequent seismicity. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), at least 40 earthquakes of M6.0 or larger have been recorded within 250 km of this location over the past century, including five events measuring M7.0 or greater.

This large magnitude earthquake resulted from strike-slip faulting on a steeply dipping fault oriented east-southeast or north-northeast. The event likely occurred near the Mendocino Fracture Zone, which separates the Pacific Plate to the south from the subducting Gorda Plate to the north. Located about 100 km southwest of Ferndale, California, the quake was widely felt across northern California and southern Oregon, with reports as far as San Francisco, 400 km away. Minor damage, including power outages affecting thousands, was reported near the epicenter, but no injuries or fatalities occurred.

The 1st figure shows this earthquake recorded by QuakeShake station S5FE0. This shake is hosted in St. Colemans Community College Middleton, they attended our teacher workshop in Portlaoise.
The 2nd figure shows the waveform recorded by QuakeShake station RE566 hosted 77km away in Co. Limerick. This Raspberry Shake was raffled in our first seismometer raffle. Subscribe to our newsletter below to be notified of our next raffle.
The 3rd Figure shows the earthquakes location on Raspberry Shake's Station View website.

Felt earthquakes rarely occur in Cork. The previous felt earthquake from this region was magnitude M2.2 occurring in Dec 2013 near Courtmacsherry. Since instrumental recording began with the foundation of the INSN in 1977, the only other felt earthquake was a M2.1 near Midleton in Nov 1981. So how do earthquakes occur in Co.Cork? We have to look back into the past spanning millions of years to understand how Cork was formed to understand this. The Variscan Orogeny, a mountain-building event around 350–250 million years ago, significantly shaped the geology of County Cork. During this event, Ireland was located on two continents called Gondwana and Laurussia. When these continents collided they compressed the Earth's crust, creating the East-West folds and faults characteristic of Cork's landscape that we see today. It is likely this minor earthquake occured along one of these very old East-West trending faults.

Near Gorey, Co. Wexford Ireland, 4th September 2024

A magnitude 1.8 earthquake occurred on the 4th of September 2024 at 12:25:42 local time near Gorey Co. Wexford . The depth to the epicentre is approximately 7-8km deep. This earthquake was recorded by multiple Quake Shake Raspberry Shake stations in Ireland. If you heard 📢or felt this earthquake please let us know by filling in our INSN Felt a Seismic Event questionnaire below. Since 1980, 13 onshore earthquakes have been recorded by the INSN in Co. Wexford.

This earthquake struck within a geologically active region along the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault, a major tectonic boundary separating the African and Eurasian plates. The area is known for its seismic activity, with numerous faults in the region responsible for a significant portion of the earthquakes recorded historically.

On November 1st, 1755 a catastrophic earthquake occured, with an estimated magnitude between Mw 7.7 to 9.0. The earthquake caused widespread destruction and ignited fires that raged for days. Much of the city was destroyed and the death toll was high as it occured on All Saints' Day (a national religious holiday). Additionally, it generated massive tsunami waves that struck not only the Portuguese coast but also reached as far as Ireland.

Ballybofey Co.Donegal Ireland 2nd May 2024

This magnitude 1.1 earthquake occured on the 2nd of May 2024 at 19:48pm local time near Ballybofey in Northern Co. Donegal Ireland 〰️ This earthquake was recorded by a Quake Shake Raspberry Shake seismometer in St.Columbas Secondary School and goes to show our little island can experience earthquakes even though our geographical location is not on the edge of a plate boundary. If you heard 📢or felt this earthquake please let us know by filling in our INSN Felt a Seismic Event questionnaire.

Click here for Questionnaire.

Click here for more info from the INSN.

The USGS estimated approximately 42 million people felt this earthquake (the epicentre is located 64km West of New York City). This earthquake was so widely felt as earthquakes occurring on the East Coast and in the Midwest of America are typically felt across a broader area than similar magnitude earthquakes on the West coast due to the geological composition of the rocks. The Earth's crust on the East Coast is older, colder, and denser than on the West Coast. This means seismic waves can travel longer distances without losing much energy. As a result, earthquakes can be felt over a larger area in the East. The West Coast, particularly along the Pacific Ring of Fire, has younger and more fractured crust, which absorbs more of the seismic energy, limiting the distance that the seismic waves can travel.

Near Hualien City, Taiwan April 2nd 2024

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck 15km South of Whaleien City on Taiwan's eastern coast at 7:58 AM local time. A series of strong aftershocks including a magnitude 6.5 occurred 13 minutes after the main quake have occurred. Taiwan's seismic activity is due to its location at the junction between the converging Philippines plate to the West and the Eurasian plate to the East. The convergence rate is extremely high approx. 8cm/year. Due to this tectonic setting Taiwan regularly experiences earthquakes of large magnitude.

Honshu, Japan 1st January 2024

This magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred at a depth of approximately 10 km. Japan experiences high seismic activity due to the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath its eastern coast. However, this recent event occurred along the less seismically active western coast, where certain shallow faults accommodate broader plate movements. Shallow earthquakes, such as this one, typically lead to more pronounced surface ground shaking compared to deeper earthquakes, as the energy is released closer to the Earth’s surface.

The earthquake caused up to intensity IX shaking (violent) on the Noto Peninsula. This intense shaking, caused buildings to collapse and triggered liquefaction and landsliding. Slip on the fault uplifted land and the seafloor, exposing new swaths of coastline and initiating a tsunami, with wave height reaching 3m. A tsunami warning was triggered and later downgraded as Japan has previously experienced a devastating tsunami in 2011 triggered by the M9.1 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. This earthquake generated a tsunami with a maximum wave height of almost 40 meters (130 feet) in the Iwate Prefecture. Researchers also determined that a 2,000-kilometer (1,242-mile) stretch of Japan’s Pacific coast was impacted by the 2011 tsunami.

Qinghai Provence, China Earthquake, 18th December 2023

This is the magnitude 5.9 earthquake in north-central China earthquake from December 18th 2023 . The earthquake struck in the Gansu-Qinghai border region which is in north-central China. The Gansu province is within an intraplate region, but situated on the north-eastern margin of the tectonically active Tibetan Plateau. Seismicity in the Tibetan Plateau largely results from the continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates. The earthquake occurred on either a north-striking, steeply dipping, reverse fault or a south-southeast striking, shallowing-dipping, reverse fault. Thousands have been injured and more than 120 fatalities.

Fanad Pennsinsula Co. Donegal, Ireland 10th December 2023

This magnitude 1.3 earthquake was recorded by Raspberry Shake seismometers and by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) at 06:48:00 UTC on the 10th of December 2023 . The earthquake occurred at a depth of approximately 5 km, and the epicentre was approximately 5 km east of Kerrykeel. INSN has received several reports that the earthquake was experienced by members of the public near Kerrykeel, whereby most stated that they heard a loud, thunder-like noise. The Fanad peninsula experiences regular seismic activity; the most recent earthquake to occur near Kerrykeel was M1.4 in August 2017, and the largest earthquake on the Fanad peninsula was M2.4 in January 2012.

South West Iceland, Ongoing seismicity 2023

Iceland experienced a series of seismicity swarms, characterized by clusters of frequent (thousands) and relatively small earthquakes. These swarms were indicative of heightened magmatic activity beneath the Earth's surface. Iceland is located along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates diverge. The seismicity swarms were closely monitored by Icelandic seismologists at the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). They provide daily seismic updates. The largest magnitude earthquake so far was a magntude 5.3 on the 10th of November. This figure shows 510 earthquakes recorded from the Shake Net app on the 11th of November.

Grindavik, a town with a population of approximately 3,300, sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 31 miles south west of the capital, Grindavik was evacuated on the 10th of November. An eruption began on December 18th. On the 19th of December The Icelandic Met Office said " The development of the eruption is similar to recent eruptions at Fagradalsfjall, where the fissures are starting to contract and form individual eruption vents. Presently, there are about five eruption vents spread along the original fissure. According to information from scientists who went on a second helicopter flight with the Icelandic Coast Guard at around 04:00 UTC today, the total length of the fissure eruption has not changed much from the beginning. There was little activity at the southern end of the fissure near Hagafell, and the majority of the lava flow is heading east towards Fagradalsfjall. Two streams reach west, both north of Stóra-Skógfell."

Herat, Afghanistan October 7th 2023

This magnitude 6.3 earthquake near Herat, Afghanistan occurred as the result of thrust faulting at shallow depths near the far western terminus of the Hindu Kush mountain range. This earthquake was followed by a second Mag 6.3 earthquake that occurred approximately 30 minutes later. Both earthquakes occurred on east-west striking fault planes that dip to either the north or south. The earthquakes occurred within the Eurasia plate in an intracontinental mountain belt. Earthquakes in Afghanistan and its surrounding regions are common due to the complex and active interactions between the Arabia, Eurasia, and India plates. Source USGS. Widespread distribution of faults, construction styles and environmental factors were major factor in the vulnerability of rural populations in Afghanistan. Houses and buildings have thick mud roofs supported by timber and walls made of mud brick or stone blocks cemented with dried mud. Unfortunately, they are prone to collapse during shaking events, leading to high fatality rates. Thirdly, the environment plays a significant role in making a place vulnerable to earthquakes.

High Atlas Morocco Earthquake, 8th September 2023

This is the Magnitude 6.8 Morocco earthquake from the 8th of September 2023 . This occurred near Oukaïmedene, due to oblique-reverse faulting at shallow depth within the Moroccan High Atlas Mountain range, roughly 75 km southwest of Marrakech. The High Atlas Mountains contain a variety of mapped strike-slip and thrust faults, trending to the east-west and northeast-southwest. This earthquake occurred within the Africa Plate, approximately 550 km south of the plate boundary between the Africa and Eurasia plates. At the location of this earthquake, the African plate moves approximately 3.6 mm/year WSW relative to the Eurasia plate. Earthquakes of this size in the region are uncommon but not unexpected. Since 1900 there have been nine magnitude 5 or larger earthquakes within 500 km of this event, none of which are over magnitude 6. Source USGS.

Glenveagh National Park, Co. Donegal, Ireland, 6th May 2023

This magnitude 2.5 earthquake is the largest onshore Irish earthquake recorded by the INSN since its inception. The event was largely felt across western and central Donegal, particularly in Letterkenny, Ballybofey and Dungloe. The INSN received nearly 300 felt reports from members of the public in the days following the earthquake, whereby approximately 85% of respondents heard the earthquake, 76% felt the earthquake, and 32% were awakened by the earthquake. Some respondents reported a duration for the noise they had heard, which was approximately 20 seconds on average. Several commonly occurring descriptions of the earthquake include ”loud rumbling”, ”loud noise”, ”like thunder, but went on too long”, ”like thunder, but deeper and omnidirectional”, with most reporting weak to mild shaking and objects rattling indoors.