2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake

2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake

Date	24 May 2013
Magnitude	8.3 Mw [1]
Depth	609 km
Epicenter	54°52′26″N 153°16′48″E / 54.874°N 153.280°ECoordinates: 54°52′26″N 153°16′48″E / 54.874°N 153.280°E
Areas affected	Russia
Max. intensity	V (Moderate) [1]

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] Due to its great depth (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 2374 km away), Nanjing (more than 4000 km away), Atyrau (MM V) (about 7196 km away), and Moscow (about 7370 km away).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The shaking prompted almost 900 residents to leave their homes in Moscow.^[6][8]

A related aftershock with a magnitude M_w 6.7 produced a supershear earthquake. It was an extremely deep (640 kilometers (400 miles)) 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."^[9]

References

1. "M8.3 - Sea of Okhotsk". USGS. 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
2. Землетрясение в Охотском море потрясло Москву (in Russian). РИА Новости. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
3. http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/detail_2013_05/25/25697665_0.shtml
4. http://azh.kz/en/news/view/1584
5. В Охотском море произошло мощное землетрясение (in Russian). РИА "Сахалин—Курилы". Retrieved 2013-05-24.
6. http://rt.com/news/quake-asia-tsunami-warning-729/
7. http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=int_30&k=2013052400582
8. http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_05_24/New-earthquake-in-Okhotsk-Sea-magnitude-6-8/
9. "Researchers find evidence of super-fast deep earthquake". Phys.org. July 10, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.