M6.1 earthquake 105 km SSE of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia

Sunday, November 9, 1952, 05:57:02 UTC · 49.883°N, 156.947°E

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 105 km SSE of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia on Sunday, November 9, 1952, 05:57:02 UTC, at a depth of 37.6 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on November 9, 1952.

Magnitude: 6.1; Strong · mw
Depth: 38 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

21 kilotons of TNT

That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 43 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

89 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

38 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 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.5 on November 13, 1952. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 72 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 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 100 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1737
Kamchatka
16 Oct 1737 · 154 km away
100 deathstsunami
1841M8.4
Off Kamchatka
17 May 1841 · 247 km away · intensity XI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1904M8.3
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 276 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1904M8.1
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 276 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1904M7.9
Off Kamchatka
27 Jun 1904 · 276 km away · intensity IX
1913M7.7
Kuril Islands
1 Aug 1913 · 285 km away

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

Nearby trackers