QuakeScout
Magnitude6.8

Reviewed by USGSRussia74y ago

M6.8 earthquake 171 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia

Monday, January 5, 1953, 10:06:36 UTC · 49.205°N, 155.398°E

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 171 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia on Monday, January 5, 1953, 10:06:36 UTC, at a depth of 49.2 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.9 on November 4, 1952.

Magnitude
6.8
Strong · mw
Depth
49 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
—
No ShakeMap
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

274 kilotons of TNT

That is about 18 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 575 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

128 km

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

Depth: shallow

49 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

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 100 km

USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.0 on February 2, 1953. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M5M6M71h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M6.8
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 6.0160 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia74y ago · 60 km E of this epicenter

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:

  1. 7.8266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 1, 1915 · 95 km S of this epicenter
  2. 7.4156 km SE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 31, 1916 · 193 km E of this epicenter
  3. 7.2Kuril IslandsJanuary 18, 1925 · 188 km SW of this epicenter
  4. 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 131 km S of this epicenter
  5. 7.0Kuril IslandsNovember 6, 1951 · 234 km SW of this epicenter
  6. 6.9102 km E of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaNovember 4, 1952 · 223 km NE of this epicenter
  7. 6.8Kuril IslandsNovember 2, 1936 · 230 km SW of this epicenter
  8. 6.7147 km ESE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaSeptember 24, 1941 · 221 km NE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 100 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1737

    Kamchatka

    16 Oct 1737 · 281 km away

    100 deathstsunami

  2. 1915M8.1

    Kuril Islands

    1 May 1915 · 247 km away

  3. 1913M7.7

    Kuril Islands

    1 Aug 1913 · 190 km away

  4. 1929M7.7

    Kuril Islands

    13 Jan 1929 · 79 km away · intensity VII

  5. 1911M7.6

    Near Kamchatka

    4 May 1911 · 292 km away · intensity VII

  6. 1737M7.5

    Kuril Islands

    17 Dec 1737 · 145 km away · intensity IX

    tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages