November 4, 1952 Earthquake: Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

1952, Nov 4. The earthquake of 4-5 November 1952, in Kamchatka was preceded by a no less intense earthquake on the east coast of Hokkaido on 4 March 1952. The earthquake was accompanied by numerous secondary shocks.

The point on the coast nearest to the epicenter (Kamchatka, Cape Shipunsky) is 140 km. distant. The distance to Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka is 200 km. and to Severo-Kuril'sk about 350 km. Thanks to the distance of the epicenter from the coast and the shallow depth of the focus, the earthquake was not accompanied by significant destruction. As a result of a survey of damage to buildings and installations it was established that on the Kuril-Kamchatka coasts the force of the earthquake did not exceed intensity 7; for Petropavlovsk the force of the quake reached intensity 6; farther south it was somewhat greater (intensity 7). North of Petropavlovsk the intensity of the earthquake was weaker. At Ust'Kamchatsk the force of the quake was of intensity 5. From the Kronotsky Peninsula to the northern Kuril Islands there was damage to structures, destruction of stoves and chimneys, and so on. Buildings and structures in Petropavlovsk and its surroundings suffered comparatively little.

The considerable extent of the epicentral zone along the Kamchatka coast is testified to by the fact that the force of the earthquake of 4-5 November varied comparatively little over an extent of almost 700 km, with a shallow depth of focus.

The earthquake was accompanied by a large number of secondary shocks, the frequency and force of which gradually lessened. From 4-10 November the Petropavlovsk seismological station detected 507 secondary shocks; many of them were also detected by the majority of seismological station of the USSR.

The greatest destruction and suffering of 4-5 November were caused by the tsunami which arose as a result of the earthquake and which took in about 700 km of the east coasts of Kamchatka and the Kuril Is. On the average the height of the waves on the coast reached 6-7 m.

Weaker waves were detected all over the Pacific basin.

(above from reference #4252)

1952, Nov 4, 16:58:22 UTC. 52.3 N, 161 E, magnitude 8.5, intensity IX. (reference #223)

1952, Nov 4, 16:58:27.89, 52.755 N, 160.057 E, depth 22 km, magnitude 9.0 Mw. (reference #9910)

1952, Nov 4, 16:58:30.31, 52.623 N, 159.779 E, depth 21.6 km, magnitude 8.84 Mw. (reference #10476, v.10)

1952, Nov 4, 16:58:30, 52.623 N, 159.779 E, depth 21.6 km, magnitude 9 Mw. (reference #13456, access date 2023)

Present day estimates based on the existed data on population density in the area and available damage reports from some selected coastal locations show that minimum number of victims was about 4000 people with estimated maximum as high as 14000 fatalities (Smyshlyaev, 2003). Based on this, the most realistic estimate for the fatality level can be adopted as 10,000 people, the majority of which (more than 99%) were killed by tsunami. (reference #11763)

The source of 1952 earthquake was located in two time zones. According to Greenwich (UTC), the earthquake happened on November 4 at 16 hours 58 minutes. In Kamchatka (+12 hours) at this time was November 5, 4-58 am, and in Kuril Islands, which live in Sakhalin time (+11 hours) was 3-58 am. So, local people from Severo-Kurilsk use the time 4 am for the earthquake (reference #12048)