Reviewed by USGSRussia114y ago
M6.8 earthquake 54 km SSE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
Tuesday, January 20, 1914, 12:00:23 UTC · 52.470°N, 158.688°E
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 54 km SSE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia on Tuesday, January 20, 1914, 12:00:23 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.4 on May 4, 1911.
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 35 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
231 kilotons of TNT
That is about 15 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 484 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
156 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
35 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 10 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.7115 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 112 km E of this epicenter
- 7.5274 km SE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 25, 1904 · 233 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.495 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaMay 4, 1911 · 101 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2143 km E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RussiaJune 27, 1904 · 167 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.297 km NNE of Ozernovskiy, RussiaAugust 17, 1907 · 130 km W of this epicenter
- 6.797 km SE of Mil’kovo, RussiaJuly 24, 1904 · 184 km N of this epicenter
- 6.557 km ENE of Severo-Kuril’sk, RussiaSeptember 8, 1911 · 215 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3113 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, RussiaNovember 23, 1913 · 64 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 100 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1737
Kamchatka
16 Oct 1737 · 160 km away
100 deathstsunami
- 1841M8.4
Off Kamchatka
17 May 1841 · 70 km away · intensity XI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1904M8.3
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 56 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1904M8.1
Off Kamchatka
25 Jun 1904 · 56 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1827
Kamchatka
9 Aug 1827 · 60 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1792M8.4
Near Kamchatka
22 Aug 1792 · 278 km away · intensity XI
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.