0 of 24,082 magnitude 4+ earthquakes, placed at depth beneath the islands
Every magnitude 4 and larger earthquake recorded in and around the Philippines from 1 January 1970 to 28 September 2026, 24,082 in all, placed at its hypocentre beneath the islands. Spheres are sized by magnitude and coloured by depth.
The bands of earthquakes that dive beneath the archipelago trace oceanic plate being pushed down into the mantle: from the west at the Manila Trench, from the east at the Philippine Trench, and in the south at the Cotabato Trench and beneath the Celebes and Molucca seas, where some earthquakes start more than 600 km down. The translucent sheets are the Slab2 model of the top of those slabs.
Relief is exaggerated ×10 from the highest peaks down to 11 km below sea level; below that, depth is exaggerated ×1.6, so the deepest earthquakes still fit on screen. Both are adjustable under Layers.
About 40% of hypocentres were fixed at a standard depth (10, 33 or 35 km) when the true depth could not be resolved, which is why flat sheets of spheres appear at those depths. Magnitudes mix types: body-wave (mb) for most small events, moment magnitude (Mw) for the larger ones. Detection improved over the decades, so the 1970s look quieter than they were.
After the Tōhoku 2011 earthquake model by loeicnergot on Sketchfab. Built with three.js by Budots Media, Mactan, Cebu, September 2026. For emergency information follow PHIVOLCS.