March 17, 1953 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia

Name: March 17, 1953 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia
Start: 1953-03-17
Location: Kuril Islands, Russia

March 17, 1953 · M5.8

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Kuril Islands, Russia on March 17, 1953 at 13:04 UTC. It caused a tsunami.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: March 17, 1953
Time: 13:04 UTC
Place: Kuril Islands, Russia
Magnitude: 5.8 (Ms)
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 50.000° N, 156.500° E
Country: Russia
Region: Kamchatka and Kuril Islands

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

A series of strong shocks following the earthquake of 1952 were accompanied by small tsunamis. The seismological stations registered an earthquake with its epicenter east of the island on March 17, 1953, at 13:04 Greenwich time (00:04 of March 18 by Petropavlosk time). The intensity of the earthquake was magnitude 5.75. (reference #413)

March 17, 1953, 13:04 UTC, 50 N, 156.5 E, magnitude 5.75, Paramushir. (reference #79)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#413 Soloviev, S.L., and M.D. Ferchev (1961). Summary of Data on Tsunamis in the USSR. Bulletin of the Council for Seismology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR [Byulleten Soveta po Seismologii Akademiya Nauk, SSSR], no. 9, 23-55, Moscow, USSR, 37 p.
#79 Iida, Kumizi, Doak C. Cox, and George Pararas-Carayannis (1967). Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, HIG-67-10, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 275 p. Bibliography to the Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, December 1967, 27 p.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1953 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1953 Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 7977.