2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake

54°53′31″N 153°13′16″E / 54.892°N 153.221°E / 54.892; 153.221Areas affectedRussiaMax. intensityMMI V (Moderate)

JMA 3CasualtiesNone

The 2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 8.3 at 15:44:49 local time (05:44:49 UTC) on 24 May.[1] It had an epicenter in the Sea of Okhotsk and affected primarily (but not only) Asian Russia, especially the Kamchatka Peninsula where the shaking lasted for five minutes.[2]

Earthquake

The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 8.3 and was the largest to strike Russia since 2006. Due to its great depth of 609 km, it was not particularly intense at the surface, but was felt over a very large area. Such a deep-focus earthquake could be felt not only in areas surrounding the Okhotsk Sea but also in places as far as Tokyo (JMA 1, about 2,400 km away from the epicenter),[3] Nanjing (more than 4,000 km away),[4] Atyrau (MMI V, about 7,200 km away),[5] Moscow (about 7,400 km away),[6] and Belgrade (about 8,100 km away).[7] Maximum recorded JMA intensity was Shindo 3 (equivalent to IV (Light) on the MMI Scale).

A related aftershock with a magnitude Mw 6.7 occurred at 02:56 local time (14:52 UTC on 24 May), 9 hours after the earthquake, producing a supershear earthquake. It was an extremely deep (640 km or 400 mi) supershear as well as unusually fast at "eight kilometers per second (five miles per second), nearly 50 percent faster than the shear wave velocity at that depth".[8]

Impact

In Moscow, the shaking caused almost 900 residents to be evacuated from their homes.[9] In the city, small cracks appeared in several buildings.[7] In Samara, a poorly constructed house collapsed and seventeen others were slightly damaged, despite the shaking being so weak there.[7] In Saint Petersburg, one person had to be medically cared for in an office block due to nausea caused by the swaying building.[7] In Yakutsk, 1,500 km from the epicenter, a bridge cracked.[7] In Heilongjiang, China, a school was evacuated due to the shaking.[7]

See also

  • flagRussia portal
  • Earth sciences portal

References

  1. ^ a b ANSS. "M8.3 - Sea of Okhotsk". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  2. ^ Землетрясение в Охотском море потрясло Москву (in Russian). РИА Новости. 2013-05-24. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  3. ^ "時事ドットコム". Archived from the original on 2013-06-25.
  4. ^ "俄罗斯海域发生8.2级地震 江苏多地网友称有震感_资讯频道_凤凰网". Archived from the original on 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  5. ^ "Atyrau shaken by earthquake (Updated) — news on Ak Zhaik".
  6. ^ В Охотском море произошло мощное землетрясение (in Russian). РИА "Сахалин—Курилы". Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Huge earthquake in the Ochotsk Sea (Russia) - Noticeable in Japan, India and Moscow - Damage reports from Western Russia" (in German). 24 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Researchers find evidence of super-fast deep earthquake". Phys.org. July 10, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  9. ^ "New earthquake in Okhotsk Sea, magnitude 6.8". Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-05-25.

External links

  • Seismologists puzzle over largest deep earthquake ever recorded – University of California, Santa Cruz
  • The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.
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