Magnitude 6.4 (6.8) earthquake struck Kuril Islands, Russia

m-6_8-kuril-islands-russia-2012-11-16

Strong earthquake, initially registered as M 6.8 but later revised to M 6.4 struck Kuril Islands, Russia at 18:12:42 UTC on November 16, 2012 according to USGS. The epicenter was located 162 km (101 miles) SSW (198°) from Severo-Kuril’sk, Kuril Islands, Russia (49.200°N, 155.700°E) at depth of  4.9 km (3.0 miles) which was later changed to 29.1 km (18.1 miles). EMSC registered M 6.0, changed to  M 6.4 and revised finally to M 6.6 at the  depth of 60 km (37.3 miles) which was also changed to 5 km.

Lots of revision in magnitudes and depth but generally we can agree that the magnitude ranged between 6.4 and 6.8 at depth from 5 to 60 km.

Recent activity map (Source: USGS) Intensity shaking map (Source: USGS)

Magnitude 6.8
Date-Time
  • Friday, November 16, 2012 at 18:12:37 UTC
  • Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 05:12:37 AM at epicenter
Location 49.291°N, 155.445°E
Depth 4.9 km (3.0 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region KURIL ISLANDS
Distances 162 km (100 miles) SSW of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia
454 km (282 miles) SSW of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
474 km (294 miles) SSW of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
479 km (297 miles) SSW of Yelizovo, Russia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 15.1 km (9.4 miles); depth +/- 6.7 km (4.2 miles)
Parameters NST=328, Nph=334, Dmin=454.2 km, Rmss=0.92 sec, Gp= 40°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source
  • Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc000dtr7

The epicenter is far out of the coast in a sparsely populated to unpopulated area. There are no tsunami warnings issued at the moment.

Earthquake map (Source: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center)

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1821Z 16 NOV 2012

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 1813Z 16 NOV 2012
COORDINATES - 49.2 NORTH 155.7 EAST
DEPTH - 60 KM
LOCATION - KURIL ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE - 6.8

EVALUATION

NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON
HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.

HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL
TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES
IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY MAY ALSO ISSUE TSUNAMI MESSAGES
FOR THIS EVENT TO COUNTRIES IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH
CHINA SEA REGION. IN CASE OF CONFLICTING INFORMATION... THE
MORE CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED FOR SAFETY.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.

All magnitudes estimations :
mb6.5 (BEO)   Mw7.2 (BGSG)  ML2.9 (GFU)   M 6.5 (GFZ) Mb6.5 (GSRC)  Mw6.8 (JMA)   MB6.7 (LDG)   MB6.7 (LED) MB6.7 (MAD)   Mb6.3 (MSO)   Mw6.8 (NEIC)  Mb5.1 (NEWS) Mb5.1 (NEWS)  Mb4.8 (NEWS)  Mw6.8 (PTWC)  Mw6.8 (PTWC) Mb6.7 (ZAMG)

 

UPDATE 1 (18:40 UTC, November 16,2012)

EMSC revised preliminary magnitude 6.0 to 6.4, and the depth was changed to 2 km.

UPDATE 2 (19:00 UTC, November 16, 2012)

EMSC revised magnitude to 6.6 and the depth was changed to 5 km.

 

Featured image credit: EMSC + Google Earth

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