Massive earthquake off Russia’s east coast is one of the most powerful ever recorded
The earthquake that struck the Eastern Kamchatka region of Russia and sparked tsunami warnings through the Pacific is among the most powerful temblors to have been recorded in modern history.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) can revise the extent of the earthquake, but if it remains at 8.8, this earthquake would be equal with the sixth highest of all time, which struck the center of Chile in 2010, killing more than 500 people and destroying more than 370,000 houses.
The Russian authorities described the last earthquake a “remarkable event”.
He struck at a depth of about 13 miles, about 74 miles from the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky coast, the regional capital of the Kamchatka peninsula, with a population of 180,000.
Despite its strength, the first reports indicate that there were no deaths or significant damage to the event and that the waves of registered tsunami reached a maximum of 9.8 to 13.1 feet in Russia, 4.9 feet in Japan and 5.7 feet in Hawaii.
David Tappin, principal researcher of the British Geological Survey, said that he was surprised by this.
“When I saw for the first time 8.8, I must admit, I thought:` `Oh, we may return to Japan ”, he said, referring to the 2011 earthquake which sparked a huge tsunami, killing more than 20,000 people and causing a fusion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Now called “big soil of Tohoku”, he had an amplitude of 9.1, the fourth more powerful ever recorded. The waves of this tsunami reached up to 130 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reaching the coast at a height of around 50 feet.
“Right now, it seems quite abnormal. Magnitude 8.8 generating a 4 -meter tsunami seems very unusual but … The information on the impact of the tsunami is still quite limited,” said Tappin, adding that he would have expected a tsunami of at least 10 meters, or about 33 feet.
He said that relatively insignificant damage reported so far could be due to the removal of the epicenter and the efficiency of the warning systems.
“It seems to me that the warning system has started and warnings were given in Japan at the start, Hawaii and off the west coast of the United States, just demonstrating the importance of having these warning systems,” said Tappin. “In this case, maybe the tsunami was not tall, but it saves people’s lives.”
The fifth largest earthquake never recorded, a 9.0 tremor, also struck the Kamchatka region in 1952. His epicenter was less than 19 miles from it. In this disaster, the waves have reached up to 50 feet and killed at least 1,790 people, some historians bringing the number of deaths up to 8,000, according to the Russian Military Historical Society.
The region has experienced nearly 700 earthquakes with amplitudes of more than 5.0 since 1990, according to the USGS.
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded was the earthquake of magnitude 9.5 Valdivia or “Chilean Great”, which struck the Central Chile in 1960, killing more than 1,600 people and leaving 2 million homelessness.
One of the most deadly earthquakes in the world was the third most powerful ever recorded, which struck the coasts of Sumatra, in Indonesia, the day after boxing in 2004. The 9.1 earthquake triggered massive tsunamis reaching up to 100 feet and killed around 280,000 people.
