Today in Earthquake History

Today's Earthquake Fact:
The term seismic seiche was first coined by Anders Kvale in 1955, to describe oscillation of lake levels in Norway and England caused by the Assam earthquake of August, 1950.

Year at a Glance

May

Note: All earthquake dates are UTC, not local time.

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Year	Location	Magnitude	Comment

1948	Alaska Peninsula	7.5	60th Anniversary One of the Largest Earthquakes in the United States.

1970	Eastern Caucasus	6.7	Two moderate earthquakes occurred a few miles west of Machackala, a city of about 165,000 population and located on the Caspian Sea, that caused extensive damage in the Dagestan Republic. One report stated houses tumbled, landslides cascaded down mountainsides, and fissures opened in the ground. It also noted that waves were generated that submerged sand dunes along the Caspian Sea. The earthquakes, which occurred nine hours apart, probably caused a high number of casualties, but no official count was released. From Significant Earthquakes of the World 1970, and Earthquake Information Bulletin, Volume 2, Number 5.

1985	Northwest of Madagascar	6.4	Felt at Mtwara and Newala, Tanzania and in the Mocimbao da Praia area, Mozambique. Believed to be the largest instrumentally located hypocenter in this area. From Significant Earthquakes of the World, 1985.

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