Earthquakes during June

Abstract

DURING June there occurred at least nine world-shaking earthquakes and a great number of smaller ones. The greatest two of the month were that on June 28, which caused heavy casualties and severe property damage in and around Fukui, West Honshu, Japan (Nature, July 10, p. 57) and which gave ground amplitudes at Durham of 115µ, and that on June 30, which caused casualties and property damage on the island of Levkas and the nearby mainland of Greece, and gave ground amplitudes of 220µ at Kew. The other great shocks were on June 15 near the southern coast of Honshu, Japan ; on June 18 in the Solomon Islands region ; on June 21 in the Celebes Sea ; on June 27 (2) off the northern coast of Honduras and south of the Alaska Peninsula ; and on June 29 (2) in the Samoan Islands region and in Transcaucasia. An earthquake only slightly less intense occurred on June 13 from a focus the epicentre of which was near lat. 43°31‘N., long. 12° 8‘E. This caused some property damage and at least one death at San Sepolcro in the Italian Province of Arezzo. Also during the month there was a swarm of earthquakes in the Karlsruhe, Rasstat, Lauterbourg area. The swarm began on June 1 and lasted practically the whole month, the greatest shock of the series being felt on June 7 with scale VI to VII (some chimneys down) at Karlsruhe. The epicentre of this shock was near lat. 49°04‘N., long. 8°19‘E. some 9 km. north-west of Karlsruhe, and the depth of focus has been estimated at 20–30 km. The energy of the shocks of this swarm did not travel far, but was recorded by the seismographs at Strasbourg, Stuttgart and the Swiss observatories. Apart from the observatories mentioned above, reports for the month have also been received from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Aberdeen, Beograd, Cleveland (Ohio), De Bilt, Toledo and Uccle.