A powerful earthquake can happen at many depths, but the deepest reliably measured earthquakes are around 700 to 750 kilometers below the Earth’s surface. Most damaging earthquakes, however, are much shallower, often less than 70 kilometers deep.

Quick Scoop

  • Shallow earthquakes: 0–70 km deep, usually cause the most damage.
  • Intermediate earthquakes: 70–300 km deep.
  • Deep earthquakes: 300–700+ km deep, and some reports have described events around 751 km deep.

What it means

Depth matters more than strength for damage. A very strong deep earthquake can shake over a wide area, but a shallower one is usually more destructive at the surface.

Simple answer

If you mean “how deep can a powerful earthquake be,” the answer is roughly up to about 700 kilometers , with some extraordinary cases reported near 750 kilometers.