The west of the Pacific has witnessed this morning of a great earthquake with epicenter off the coasts of the Kamchatka Peninsula. While for now there have been no victims, numerous areas of the Pacific coast They have activated alerts for the risk of tsunami.
Among them, the densely populated coasts of Japan, where alert can bring memories of what lived in 2011.
The earthquake. The earthquake, of magnitude 8.8occurred around 11:25 at local time, or 1:25, Spanish peninsular time (23:25 UTC). After the central event there have been a series of replicas in the area, one of which It has reached magnitude 6.9. The last replica detected by the United States Geological Service (USGS) has occurred at 12:13, Spanish time (22:13 local time), and has been a movement with magnitude 5.2.
The event also had its precedents: the area had registered a high seismicity in the previous 10 days. A few hours earlier, at 4:59 PM, Spanish peninsular time (02:59 local time), A movement was recorded of magnitude 4.8 in the coastal region.
The earthquake and its replicas have occur More than 180,000 inhabitants) and capital of the administrative region in which the Peninsula is located.
Magnitude 8.8. Today’s has been the largest earthquake recorded from the earthquake Magnitude 9 which caused in 2011 a tsunami that swept part of the east coast of Japan. There is one Inverse relationship between the magnitude of an earthquake and the probability of being such an event. For example, the earthquakes of magnitude 8 occur, on average, once a year, while in an average year we can expect that some 1,500 earthquakes of magnitude 5 will occur globally.
We do not know exactly how much energy the event has released, But based on USGS data We can estimate that it could be the equivalent of more than 7 billion tons of TNT.
A new tsunami? The earthquake has activated alarms throughout the Pacific coast but especially in neighboring Japan. The coast of the Asian country is still under different levels of alert by Tsunami: about two million people have been calls to evacuate your residence or work areas due to risk which implies sea level rise.
According to The local media reports Japan Timestowards the end of the afternoon waves of up to 1.3 meters had been recorded, but the country is still on alert since the waves can reach three meters. This implies an important risk for people, goods and infrastructure, but is far from the 40 meters of tsunami that swept the country’s coast in 2011. Another reassuring factor is that the distance from the earthquake has given the authorities time to react and avoid major problems.
The Fire Ring. Both the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and today have occurred in The so -called “Fire Ring”a region of high seismic activity that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. This is a meeting region between the Pacific tectonic plate and the surrounding plates. Throughout this border region there are numerous failures in which this meeting is particularly dynamic, causing high seismicity and high volcanism.
An active peninsula. According to Explain the USGSin the area where the match has occurred, the peaceful plaque moves to the west-northwest with respect to the American plate with a speed of about 80 mm per year.
Fruit of the high seismicity of this environment, the Kamchatca Peninsula has an abundant amount of volcanoes. Volcanoes that, located in a remote and relatively depopulated area, make up a natural place whose uniqueness led Unesco to add them to your list of the World Heritage.
Image | USGS
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