QuakeScout
Magnitude5.9

Reviewed by USGS74y ago

M5.9 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands

Friday, December 12, 1952, 20:31:56 UTC · 50.081°N, 158.194°E

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Friday, December 12, 1952, 20:31:56 UTC, at a depth of 25.3 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.4 on December 11, 1952.

Magnitude
5.9
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

12 kilotons of TNT

That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 25 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

40 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 98 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 · 298 km SW of this epicenter
  2. 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 285 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 7.5253 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaJune 30, 1936 · 222 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 247 km N of this epicenter
  5. 7.4156 km SE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 31, 1916 · 35 km SW of this epicenter
  6. 7.297 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaAugust 17, 1907 · 272 km N of this epicenter
  7. 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 269 km SW of this epicenter
  8. 6.9119 km E of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMarch 24, 1921 · 147 km N 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 · 114 km away

    100 deathstsunami

  2. 1841M8.4

    Off Kamchatka

    17 May 1841 · 214 km away · intensity XI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  3. 1904M8.3

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 221 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  4. 1904M8.1

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 221 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  5. 1904M7.9

    Off Kamchatka

    27 Jun 1904 · 221 km away · intensity IX

  6. 1929M7.7

    Kuril Islands

    13 Jan 1929 · 245 km away · intensity VII

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

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