The 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake occurred on 28 May at 1:04 local time in northern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.

It was the most destructive earthquake known within the modern borders of Russia, with a magnitude of Mw7.1 and maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) that devastated the town of Neftegorsk.

Due to its location along a poorly understood plate boundary, the earthquake received considerable attention from scientists, and dozens of research papers have been written about it.

The Sakhalin-Hokkaido fault is the main plate boundary in Sakhalin with a slip rate of 4 mm (0.16 in)/yr, and runs along the island.

The Piltun-Goromai fault runs along the eastern coast of Sakhalin for 40–90 km (25–56 mi) in a roughly north-south alignment with a slip rate of 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in)/yr.

[19] The earthquake struck on May 28 at 1:04 local time[20] in northern Sakhalin in the Russian Far East near the town of Neftegorsk.

The earthquake was felt widely across the island, and nearby portions of mainland Asia experienced shaking as well.

[23] The large peak slip (8.1 m (27 ft)) and the lack of magnitude 5 or larger aftershocks suggest that the mainshock released a significant majority of the accumulated strain on the fault.

These buildings were only designed to withstand MSK VI (Strong) rather than the IX (Destructive) – X (Devastating) experienced in reality.

[30] The quake severely damaged infrastructure, with "destruction of buildings, bridges, railways and roads, breakage of oil and gas pipelines, electric and communication lines".

[31] The destroyed railway had deformation up to 300 m (980 ft) long, with locations close to the rupture even experiencing wave-like bends.

[21] Immediately after the earthquake struck, Russian rescue teams from the surrounding areas prepared to deliver aid.

Eighteen planes and helicopters were prepared; however, some were unable to deliver their aid due to heavy fog preventing landings.

[30] Field hospitals were set up and hundreds of injured victims were medevaced to larger nearby cities like Khabarovsk.

[38] Due to this, many scientific studies were conducted to help understand the earthquake and the tectonic background of the area it struck in.