Very Strong earthquake in a sparsely populated Siberia area (Sakha Republic), Russia
Last update: February 14, 2013 at 4:20 pm by By Armand Vervaeck
134km (83mi) WSW of Druzhina, Serbia
860km (534mi) NE of Markha, Russia
866km (538mi) NE of Yakutsk, Russia
979km (608mi) NNW of Magadan, Russia
2973km (1847mi) NNE of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.6
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-02-15 01:13:53
GMT/UTC Time : 2013-02-14 13:13:53
Depth (Hypocenter) : 14 km
Update 15:07 UTC:
The Russian department of emergencies has said that NO damage and/or injuries were reported. The towns in the greater area (some very far away) have either not felt it or have no damage. Earthquake-report.com will continue to monitor the situation and will report if necessary.
Update 15:07 UTC: Let’s hope that the Russians are as good as the Chinese in making their assessment of the epicenter area. The chance that we will not find any reports from this area is rather high.
Update 14:45 UTC: More precise population data comes from GDACS. This confirms that with the new data (M6.6) , only very few people will have felt a very strong to strong shaking. Radius 20 to 75 km : less than 1000 people. Within a 20 km radius : NO people
Great image courtesy Yuri Klaver from a river bed near today’s epicenter. The bended geological layers are telling the history of this area.
Update 14:28 UTC: USGS has decreased the Magnitude to M6.6, a lot weaker than the initially reported M6.9
Update 14:16 UTC: So far, we have no information of any village or settlement in the surrounding area of the epicenter. That’s good. No village means no damage and no fatalities. But of course it is too early to be sure about it.
Chinese authorities are specifying this earthquake with M 7,3. But in this case we trust USGS data the most as the same magnitude is given by Geofon and EMSC.
No, this is not a painting which hangs in MOMA, but the river Indigirka crisscrossing the landscape in the greater epicenter area
Update 14:00 UTC: The closest larger town to the epicenter is Markha (11,000 inhabitants). It is located at 862 km southwest of the epicenter. The earthquake was probably not felt there. This shows how little people living in this area, what is a good sign.
Update 13:53 UTC: Based on theoretical models, 2.000 people will have felt a moderate shaking.
An M6.9 earthquake hit the northeastern part of Siberia today. USGS reports a depth of 10 km. Due to the shallow depth, USGS expects a very strong shaking (MMI VIII) close to the epicenter area. Luckily this area is unpopulated. Nevertheless, this earthquake should be extremely dangerous if people would live within an area of 50 km from the epicenter.
There are no towns or villages with more than 1.000 inhabitants in the area of strong to very strong shaking, as USGS says.
for more information and updates, go to: http://earthquake-report.com/2013/02/14/very-strong-earthquake-eastern-siberia-russia-on-february-14-2013/