February 1923 Kamchatka earthquake

The February 1923 Kamchatka earthquake occurred on 3 February 1923. The epicenter was on the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The earthquake triggered a tsunami with wave heights up to eight metres, causing damage as far away as Hawaii.[2] The maximum perceived Mercalli intensity was XI (Extreme).[3] The tsunami caused two deaths in Kamchatka and one in Hawaii.

February 1923 Kamchatka earthquake
UTC time1923-02-03 16:01:51
ISC event911271
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateFebruary 4, 1923 (1923-02-04)
Local time04:01
Magnitude8.4 Mw[1]
Depth15 km
Epicenter54.486°N 160.472°E / 54.486; 160.472
Areas affectedKamchatka, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Max. intensityXI (Extreme)
Foreshocks7.2 Mw (USGS)  1923-02-02
Casualties3

The earthquake happened 26 years before the U.S. had the capability to issue tsunami warnings, but Thomas Jaggar, the director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, tried to warn the Hilo harbormaster about the possibility of a tsunami. His warning was not taken seriously and one fisherman was killed when the tsunami hit.[4]

In April that same year, a smaller Ms  7.2 earthquake struck north of where the February earthquake was. It generated a much larger tsunami with run-ups of up to 30 meters, killing at least 36 people.[5] This earthquake is considered a doublet of the April event because its moment magnitude was recalculated to be at ~8.0.[6]

See also

References
  1. M8.4 - near the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia United States Geological Survey
  2. "Comments for the Tsunami Event". NGDC/WDS Tsunami Event Database. National Geophysical Data Center. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  3. "Comments for the Significant Earthquake". Significant Earthquake Database. National Geophysical Data Center. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  4. PTWC History
  5. Borisov V.I. (2002). "Forgotten Tragedy". kamchatsky-krai.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  6. Bourgeois, Joanne & Pinegina, Tatiana K. (2018). "The 1997 Kronotsky earthquake and tsunami and their predecessors, Kamchatka, Russia". Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 18 (1): 335–350. Bibcode:2018NHESS..18..335B. doi:10.5194/nhess-18-335-2018. Retrieved 5 June 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


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