Earthquakes during January

Abstract

FOURTEEN strong earthquakes occurred in various parts of the world during January. The strongest were these on January 23, 24 and 27, with epicentres in the Indian Ocean (about 600 miles south-west of Sumatra), near the Tonga Islands, and in New Britain respectively. Three earthquakes had deeper foci than is normal ; two, having a depth of about 100 km., occurred on January 23 and 24, and the third, depth 600 km., on January 13 with an epicentre south of the Fiji Islands. It may be noted that no earthquake is so far known to have had its focus at a greater depth than 700 km. All the earthquakes during the month occurred in well-known seismic areas, though the one on January 28 in the Atlantic Ocean some 1,100 miles east of Bermuda is not in an area from which earthquakes often occur. Observatory records have been received from the central stations- of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and from Strasbourg, and from individual observatories at Beograd (Jugoslavia), De Bilt (Holland), Durham, Kew, Strasbourg, Stuttgart and Toledo (Spain).