QuakeScout
Magnitude6.9

Reviewed by USGSRussia107y ago

M6.9 earthquake 119 km E of Ozernovskiy, Russia

Thursday, March 24, 1921, 14:41:54 UTC · 51.400°N, 158.207°E

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 119 km E of Ozernovskiy, Russia on Thursday, March 24, 1921, 14:41:54 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.4 on October 31, 1916.

Magnitude
6.9
Strong · 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

315 kilotons of TNT

That is about 21 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 661 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

130 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Okhotsk and Pacific plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

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

  1. 7.7115 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 207 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 238 km E of this epicenter
  3. 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 113 km NW of this epicenter
  4. 7.4156 km SE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaOctober 31, 1916 · 176 km S of this epicenter
  5. 7.2143 km E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 27, 1904 · 274 km NE of this epicenter
  6. 7.297 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaAugust 17, 1907 · 145 km NW of this epicenter
  7. 6.854 km SSE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaJanuary 20, 1914 · 123 km N of this epicenter
  8. 6.557 km ENE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaSeptember 8, 1911 · 109 km SW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 10 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 · 36 km away

    100 deathstsunami

  2. 1841M8.4

    Off Kamchatka

    17 May 1841 · 68 km away · intensity XI

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  3. 1904M8.3

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 86 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  4. 1904M8.1

    Off Kamchatka

    25 Jun 1904 · 86 km away · intensity X

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  5. 1827

    Kamchatka

    9 Aug 1827 · 179 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  6. 1899M7.9

    Kamchatka Peninsula

    23 Nov 1899 · 186 km away

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages