QuakeScout
Magnitude5.7

Reviewed by USGSRussia74y ago

M5.7 earthquake 114 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia

Tuesday, December 2, 1952, 19:00:18 UTC · 52.378°N, 159.895°E

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck 114 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia on Tuesday, December 2, 1952, 19:00:18 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.0 on November 30, 1952.

Magnitude
5.7
Moderate · mw
Depth
25 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 earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

6 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/3 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 12 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

75 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

25 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 75 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 119 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 9.089 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaNovember 4, 1952 · 28 km N of this epicenter
  2. 8.41923 Kamchatka, Russia EarthquakeFebruary 3, 1923 · 237 km N of this epicenter
  3. 7.7115 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 50 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 160 km SE of this epicenter
  5. 7.5253 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaJune 30, 1936 · 146 km SE of this epicenter
  6. 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 181 km W of this epicenter
  7. 7.3233 km SE of Atlasovo, RussiaJuly 31, 1915 · 236 km NE of this epicenter
  8. 7.377 km ESE of Mil’kovo, RussiaFebruary 3, 1923 · 220 km N of this epicenter

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 10,103 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1952M9.0

    Kamchatka Peninsula

    4 Nov 1952 · 43 km away · intensity VII

    10,000 deaths$1 million damagetsunami

  2. 1737

    Kamchatka

    16 Oct 1737 · 193 km away

    100 deathstsunami

  3. 1923M8.4

    Kamchatka

    3 Feb 1923 · 237 km away · intensity XI

    3 deaths$2 million damagetsunami

  4. 1841M8.4

    Off Kamchatka

    17 May 1841 · 136 km away · intensity XI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  5. 1904M8.3

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 74 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  6. 1904M8.1

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 74 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

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