Magnitude7.6

Reviewed by USGSRussia69y ago

M7.6 earthquake 66 km SSE of Klyuchi, Russia

Sunday, October 27, 1957, 22:32:42 UTC · 55.750°N, 161.134°E

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck 66 km SSE of Klyuchi, Russia on Sunday, October 27, 1957, 22:32:42 UTC, at a depth of 147.8 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M8.4 on February 3, 1923.

Magnitude
7.6
Major · mw
Depth
148 km
Intermediate
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
VII
Very strong (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

3.8 megatons of TNT

That is about 252 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 7,943 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

117 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and North American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: intermediate

148 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 200 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 92 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 15 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 21 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1923M7.2

    Near Kamchatka

    13 Apr 1923 · 119 km away · intensity X

    18 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  2. 1923M8.4

    Kamchatka

    3 Feb 1923 · 147 km away · intensity XI

    3 deaths$2 million damagetsunami

  3. 1923M7.7

    Kamchatka Peninsula

    24 Feb 1923 · 116 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)

  4. 1943M7.6

    Kamchatka

    28 Nov 1943 · 290 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)

  5. 1936M7.3

    Near Kamchatka

    13 Nov 1936 · 191 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  6. 1792M8.4

    Near Kamchatka

    22 Aug 1792 · 202 km away · intensity XI

    tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages