QuakeScout
Magnitude6.1

Reviewed by USGSRussia74y ago

M6.1 earthquake 184 km SSE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia

Saturday, December 27, 1952, 01:25:53 UTC · 51.415°N, 159.513°E

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 184 km SSE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia on Saturday, December 27, 1952, 01:25:53 UTC, at a depth of 32.9 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on December 22, 1952.

Magnitude
6.1
Strong · mw
Depth
33 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

20 kilotons of TNT

That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 42 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

56 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

33 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 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 · 136 km N of this epicenter
  2. 7.7115 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 159 km N of this epicenter
  3. 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 147 km E of this epicenter
  4. 7.5253 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaJune 30, 1936 · 93 km E of this epicenter
  5. 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 180 km NW of this epicenter
  6. 7.4156 km SE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 31, 1916 · 210 km SW of this epicenter
  7. 7.3163 km ENE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaFebruary 2, 1923 · 273 km N of this epicenter
  8. 7.297 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaAugust 17, 1907 · 215 km NW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 11 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:

  1. 1952M9.0

    Kamchatka Peninsula

    4 Nov 1952 · 154 km away · intensity VII

    10,000 deaths$1 million damagetsunami

  2. 1737

    Kamchatka

    16 Oct 1737 · 111 km away

    100 deathstsunami

  3. 1841M8.4

    Off Kamchatka

    17 May 1841 · 123 km away · intensity XI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  4. 1904M8.3

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 74 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  5. 1904M8.1

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 74 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  6. 1827

    Kamchatka

    9 Aug 1827 · 189 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

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