The 1917 Samoa earthquake occurred on June 26 at 05:49 UTC. The epicenter was located in the southwest of the

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands ( sm, Motu o Sāmoa) are an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Independent State of Samoa a ...

. The earthquake's estimated

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

of 8.3–8.5 and

surface-wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This ma ...

of 8.4 makes it the strongest recorded earthquake in this region. Many subsidences were reported. In the mountains, masses of rocks were hurled down. In

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

, violent shaking lasted for about a minute and half. In

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

, the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...

and the Catholic Church in Leone were partly demolished. A tsunami was triggered by the earthquake, which affected both American Samoa and

German Samoa German Samoa (german: Deutsch-Samoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state of Samoa, formerly ''Western Samoa''. Samoa was the last ...

, which was then under Allied occupation. The tsunami reached a maximum of . The maximum range of the tsunami in Apia was about . Many houses were destroyed, and a bridge was washed away in

Palauli Palauli is a district and village of Samoa, with a population (2016 Census) of 9,300. It consists of two sections on the southern side of Savai'i. The capital is Vailoa which is also referred to as Vailoa i Palauli (Vailoa in Palauli district). ...

. The tsunami was also recorded in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

and on the west coast of the United States. Just on May 1, 1917, a large earthquake of magnitude 8.0 occurred in the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( mi, Rangitāhua) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total are ...

region. The tsunami caused by the earthquake in May also hit the Samoan Islands."Tsunamigeneric predecessors to the 2009 Samoa earthquake" by E. A. Okal, J. C. Borrero, C. Chagué-Goff The earthquake occurred to the southwest of the Samoa Islands, along the

Tonga Plate The Tonga Plate is a small southwest Pacific tectonic plate or microplate. It is centered at approximately 19° S. latitude and 173° E. longitude. The plate is an elongated plate oriented NNE - SSW and is a northward continuation of the Kermadec ...

boundary. The focal mechanism of this earthquake was unclear. This earthquake and the 2009 event were not thought to represent the same repeating process in a same location.

References

External links

* {{Earthquakes in 1917 Samoa earthquake, 1917 Megathrust earthquakes 1917 tsunamis Earthquakes in Samoa Earthquakes in American Samoa 1917 disasters in Oceania

See also

References

External links