The 2006 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred on November 15 at with a magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very Strong'') and a maximum Shindo intensity of JMA 2. This

megathrust Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthqu ...

earthquake was the largest event in the central

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese language, Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakh ...

since 1915 and generated a small

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

that affected the northern Japanese coast. The tsunami crossed the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

and damaged the harbor at

Crescent City, California Crescent City ( Tolowa: ''Taa-’at-dvn''; Yurok: ''Kohpey''; Wiyot: ''Daluwagh'') is the only incorporated city in Del Norte County, California; it is also the county seat. Named for the crescent-shaped stretch of sandy beach south of the cit ...

. Post-tsunami surveys indicate that the local tsunami in the central Kuril Islands reached runups of or higher. This earthquake is also considered a doublet of the

2007 Kuril Islands earthquake The 2007 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred east of the Kuril Islands on 13 January at . The shock had a moment magnitude of 8.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (''Strong''). A non-destructive tsunami was generated, with maximum wave am ...

that hit the same area on January 13, 2007.

Tsunami

At about 11:45 UTC, tsunami warnings were issued in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

for the north coasts of

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

and

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

, and a number of towns in this area were very quickly evacuated. Tsunami warnings, advisories and watches were also issued for the coastal areas of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, parts of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. JMA initially estimated tsunami waves to be as tall as 2 metres when it hit the Japanese northern and eastern coasts, but it turned out to be merely 40 centimetres when it reached Hanasaki Ko, Nemuro, Nemuro, Hokkaidō at 9:29 pm local time. The tsunami also hit the rest of Hokkaidō and

Tōhoku Region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

. The tallest wave recorded in Japan was at Tsubota (坪田),

Miyakejima is an inhabited volcanic island in the Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea approximately southeast of Tokyo, Japan. As with the other islands in the Izu Island group, Miyake-jima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Etymo ...

(三宅島) in the Izu Shotō of the Tokyo To, at 84 centimetres. Tsunami also hit as far as Anami in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

and Naha in

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest cit ...

, and reached the Hawaiian and California coasts. A 176-centimetre wave in the harbor at Crescent City, California caused an estimated $10 million in damage to the docks there. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

authorities had issued warnings for the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

, Japan,

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

and

Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

. The nearfield tsunami struck islands with no current inhabitants. However, geologists and archaeologists had visited these islands the previous summer, and returned in the summers of 2007 and 2008. Because there were two central Kurils tsunamis in the winter of 2006/2007 (see

), the specific effects of each tsunami are difficult to determine; but evidence shows that the 2006 tsunami was the larger on all islands in the Kurils except for parts of

Rasshua Rasshua (russian: Расшуа, ja, 羅処和島), is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, from Ushishir and southwest of Matua. Its name is derived ...

.MacInnes, B.T., 2010 Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington.

References

Sources * *

External links

Japan's false alarm showcases tsunami alert system
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The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

Small tsunamis hit northern Japan
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BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

Central Kuril Island Tsunami in Crescent City, California (11/15/2006)
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University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Small tsunami waves hit Japan after earthquake
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Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

Global Surge of Great Earthquakes—What We Are Learning From Them
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IRIS Consortium IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) is a university research consortium dedicated to exploring the Earth's interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic data. IRIS programs contribute to scholarly research, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuril Islands 2006 Earthquakes of the Heisei period Megathrust earthquakes in Japan Megathrust earthquakes in Russia Doublet earthquakes 2006 tsunamis Earthquakes in the Russian Far East Kuril Islands earthquake Kuril Islands earthquake Kuril Islands earthquake Tsunamis in Russia November 2006 events in Asia Kuril Islands November 2006 events in Russia November 2006 events in Japan 2006 disasters in Japan

Tsunami

See also

References

External links