Global earthquakes in the first half of 2024 according to the GS RAS

Abstract

Description of the Earth seismicity at the level of mb (MS)≥6.0 in the first half of 2024 is pro-vided. А total of 60 earthquakes are included in the list with such magnitudes. Also information on 77 earthquakes felt on the territory of the Russian Federation according to the Alert Service of the Geophysical Survey RAS is given. For the eight strongest events, information messages were published within one to two days after their occurrence, and parameters of their focal mecha-nisms were calculated. During the period under review, the strongest global earthquake with MS=7.7 (Mw=7.3) occurred on April 2 on the northeast coast of Taiwan Island. As a result, twelve people died and about a thousand were injured. The greatest human casualties and materi-al damage were caused by the catastrophic earthquake on January 1 with MS=7.3 (Mw=7.3) on the west coast of Honshu Island, Japan, which caused 240 deaths and 1,036 injuries. On the terri-tory of Russia, the most noticeable (intensity Ii=5 in the nearest settlements) were two earth-quakes: on January 15 with mb=5.5 (Mw=5.2) in the area of Lake Baikal in Buryatia and on May 6 with MS=5.0 (Mw=5.3) in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The seismic energy released on the globe for the first half of 2024 (sum(E0.5)=1.29≥∙1017 J) increased compared to that in the 2023 second half, but remained below the average semi-annual value for the period of 2010–2023 (sum(E0.5)=2.24≥∙1017 J).