Reviewed by USGS75y ago
M6.5 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands
Monday, November 12, 1951, 08:09:30 UTC · 46.705°N, 154.226°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands on Monday, November 12, 1951, 08:09:30 UTC, at a depth of 20.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on November 6, 1951.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 20 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
85 kilotons of TNT
That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 178 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
16 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
20 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 99 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.11918 Kuril Islands EarthquakeSeptember 7, 1918 · 240 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.8east of the Kuril IslandsNovember 8, 1918 · 271 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.8266 km SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaMay 1, 1915 · 196 km N of this epicenter
- 7.2Kuril IslandsJanuary 18, 1925 · 140 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0285 km S of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaAugust 1, 1913 · 208 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.0Kuril IslandsFebruary 16, 1927 · 52 km W of this epicenter
- 7.0Kuril IslandsNovember 6, 1951 · 67 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0281 km ENE of Kuril’sk, RussiaJune 13, 1929 · 237 km W of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 8 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 35 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1918M8.3
Kuril Islands
7 Sep 1918 · 249 km away
23 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1780M7.5
Kuril Islands
29 Jun 1780 · 281 km away
12 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1913M7.5
Kuril Islands
19 Jan 1913 · 188 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1922M7.5
Kuril Islands
24 Oct 1922 · 187 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1915M8.1
Kuril Islands
1 May 1915 · 67 km away
- 1913M7.7
Kuril Islands
1 Aug 1913 · 131 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.