Reviewed by USGS74y ago
M6.1 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands
Thursday, November 13, 1952, 22:25:40 UTC · 50.385°N, 158.149°E
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Thursday, November 13, 1952, 22:25:40 UTC, at a depth of 22.7 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on November 13, 1952.
- Magnitude
- 6.1
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 23 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
22 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 46 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
67 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
23 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 3 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.1 on November 18, 1952. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
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:
- 9.089 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaNovember 4, 1952 · 273 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 271 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.5253 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaJune 30, 1936 · 208 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 214 km N of this epicenter
- 7.4156 km SE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 31, 1916 · 64 km S of this epicenter
- 7.297 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaAugust 17, 1907 · 239 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 295 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.9119 km E of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMarch 24, 1921 · 113 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 10,100 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1952M9.0
Kamchatka Peninsula
4 Nov 1952 · 295 km away · intensity VII
10,000 deaths$1 million damagetsunami
- 1737
Kamchatka
16 Oct 1737 · 80 km away
100 deathstsunami
- 1841M8.4
Off Kamchatka
17 May 1841 · 180 km away · intensity XI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1904M8.3
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 189 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1904M8.1
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 189 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1827
Kamchatka
9 Aug 1827 · 292 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.