Russia’s Kuril Islands (aka the Kurile Islands), meaning the volcanic archipelago part of Sakhalin Oblast from the Russian Far East, was stricken by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. Earthquakes of this magnitude are at the limit between moderate and strong, considering that jolts of a magnitude between 6 and 6.9 are considered strong.
The Jerusalem Post announces that the news about the earthquake rumbling the Kuril Islands of Russia comes from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). According to the same source, the quake occurred at a depth of about 12 km.
20,000 people are living in the Kuril Islands
So far, there’s no information about anyone getting injured because of the quake, neither of any significant damages. However, it’s hard to believe that jolts of a 5.9 magnitude can cause too much trouble.
The Kuril Islands stretch roughly 1,300 km northeast from Hokkaido in Japan and all the way to the Kamchatka Peninsula from Russia, separating the north Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Kuril Islands consist of the Lesser Kuril Chain and the Greater Kuril Chain, and there’s a total of 56 islands and a lot of minor rocks. The entire archipelago covers an area of about 10,503.2 square kilometres.
Whether we like it or not, earthquakes are extremely common on our planet. Each year, there are a few million quakes occurring on Earth, and they can happen in any kind of weather. Earthquakes even affect the length of a day. However, these phenomenons don’t only have a dark side – it’s due to the movement of tectonic plates that large mountain ranges like the Andes or the Himalayas were formed. In other words, earthquakes can also help us admire some of the beauties of nature.
According to USGS, Japan has the densest seismic network in the entire world, as the country is located in an extremely seismic area.
