1952 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake

The shock struck off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 04:58 local time on 5 November and triggered a tsunami that reached the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka in the Russian SFSR. Many settlements in Sakhalin Oblast and Kamchatka Oblast were destroyed, with the main impact on the town of Severo-Kurilsk. The wave then crossed the Pacific: in Hawaii six cows died and no human lives were lost, with damage there put at between $800,000 and $1,000,000 in 1952 dollars.

Date and time (UTC)

1952-11-04T16:58

Highest recorded water height (m)

23

Cause, as the catalogue records it

earthquake

Magnitude of the causing earthquake

9

NCEI event page

www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/event-more-info/1829

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: earthquake, pacific, kamchatka, kuril islands, soviet union

Coordinates: 52.755, 160.057

Part of Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1950 to 1999

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