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Kamchatka’s earthquake, the eighth of greatest magnitude in the world

The earthquake recorded in the Russian Peninsula of Kamchatka, with a magnitude of 8.8 and a depth of 20.7 kilometers, is the eighth of greatest magnitude that has been recorded in the world, exceeded this century by the one that occurred in Tohoku (Japan) in 2011, which reached 9.1.

They are data collected in the official channels of the Institute of Geosciences (IGEO), a mixed center dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain and the Complutense University of Madrid, which is offering details about the earthquake that occurred in Russia and the Tsunami that has already impacted in some countries and is moving through the Pacific Ocean.

The IGO has specified in one of its entries in the social network X that for a tsunami to occur, it is necessary that the fault has a vertical movement, “with what with this inverse failure mechanism it was expected to occur”, and in another entry the “focal mechanism” of the earthquake has detailed and that the event corresponds to the “comprehensive, expected movement”, located in the peaceful sub -discovery area against the peace North American plate.

This geographical research institute has also published several images that show a modeling of the TSUNAMI after the earthquake and the foreseeable behavior that it will have during the next few hours.

Also the National Geographic Institute (IGN), under the Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility, is offering through its official channels information about the earthquake that occurred at the eastern end of Russia and the posterior replicas that are occurring, which are reflected in the “visualizer” of distant earthquakes of this organism.

The seismologist John Townend, a professor of geophysics at the University of Victoria in Wellington (New Zealand), stressed that the earthquake of magnitude 8.8 occurred near Kamchatka is the largest recorded in the world – this century – since the earthquake of 9.1 magnitude of Tohoku in 2011. Townend, in statements provided to the media Media Center (SMC), an independent office that collects resources that

They contribute to understanding the scope of many events or discoveries, it has specified that the earthquake took place in the subduction zone under the Kamchatka peninsula, where the Pacific plaque moves to the west-northwest about 75 millimeters every year. This plaque, he explained, is being forced below the Okhotsk plaque, which forms the east of Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula and which, according to some studies, is considered part of the North American Plate.

Given the magnitude and location of the earthquake, and from preliminary seismological observations, it is likely that it has involved a sliding of more than 10 meters in an area of approximately 150 by 400 kilometers, although it will be necessary to perform more analysis during the next few hours to confirm it, this seismologist has indicated.

Today’s earthquake was preceded on July 20 by an earthquake of magnitude 7.4, which is now recognized as an “early replica,” he said.

The depth, the magnitude and characteristics of the failure in the earthquake today have combined to generate a tsunami that has already affected the nearby coasts and Japan, and that will continue to have effects throughout the Pacific during the next few hours.

The seismologist has reported that today’s earthquake released approximately 30 times more energy than Kaikoura’s earthquake (New Zealand) of magnitude 7.8 in 2016, and approximately three times less energy than the Tohoku earthquake, magnitude 9.1.

Caroline Orchiston, director of the Center for Sustainability of the University of Otago (New Zealand), has also indicated that according to the United States Geological Service the area has a relatively small population, so it is not expected that damages or injuries to local people and properties are too serious.

The coasts of the Northwest of the United States and Alaska are under a tsunami warning, with waves of less than 30 centimeters expected in some areas of the north, and in Crescent City (a promontory on the Oregon coast) with the highest forecast waves, up to 1.5 meters, this expert explained in a few statements provided by the SMC. So far, 10 replicas have already been registered above magnitude 5, being the largest of 6.9, which shows that great magnitude earthquakes generate sequences of replicas that begin immediately, and some of these can be harmful for themselves, this expert has clarified. In his opinion, and from the perspective of the local population, the experience of this earthquake will be aggravated in the coming weeks, months and even years for the posterior seismic activity, which can have a significant psychosocial impact. (EFE)