1995 Neftegorsk earthquake

1995 devastating earthquake in Sakhalin, Russia 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake 28 May 1995 01:03 a.m. 1995-05-27 13:03:52 106336 usp0006y50 Neftegorsk earthquake 01.jpg Destruction in Neftegorsk following the earthquake Russia Far Eastern Federal District 17 seconds wb USGS 7.1ISC reports it as w ISC 7.1 y, a research paper reports it as s 7.2.,Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288 other research papers put it at s 7.6,Arafiev Rogozhin Aptekman Bykova 2006 595 while yet another paper reports it as a magnitude 7.8, scale unknownNicholson VanLaningham MacDonald 2013 590 11.0 km mi 0 on 52.63 142.83 inline,title Upper Piltun fault Strike-slip Sakhalin, Russian Far East $64.1–300 million IX 1,989 dead 750 injured The 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake occurred on 28 May at 01:03 local time 13:03:53 UTC in northern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. It was the most destructive earthquake known within the modern borders of Russia, with a magnitude of w y 7.1 and maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) that devastated the town of Neftegorsk. Many buildings collapsed, and 1,989 of its 3,977 citizens were killed, with another 750 injured. Infrastructure was catastrophically damaged, leading to Neftegorsk becoming a ghost town. Surface effects from the earthquake were widespread, with many geological features changing or developing. Due to its location along a poorly understood plate boundary, the earthquake received considerable attention from scientists, and dozens of research papers have been written about it. Tectonic setting Sakhalin lies along the destructive plate boundary zone between the Amur microplate (part of the Eurasian plate system) and the Okhotsk microplate (part of the North American plate system). The Sakhalin-Hokkaido fault is the main plate boundary in Sakhalin that runs along the island with a slip rate of 4 mm on/yr.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 597Arafiev Rogozhin Aptekman Bykova 2006Aref'ev Dorbath 2001 Unlike most of the plate boundary, faulting in North Sakhalin is predominantly strike-slip.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 597Kozhurin 2004 277 In the area near the earthquake, three faults take up the brunt of the slip: the Gyrgylanye-Dagy, Piltun-Goromai, and Upper Piltun (also known as the Verkhnii Pil'tun or Gyrgylan'i–Ossoy) faults. The Piltun-Goromai fault runs along the eastern coast of Sakhalin for 40-90 km on in a roughly north-south alignment with a slip rate of 3–5 mm on/yr.Kozhurin 2004 277 Along the Piltun-Goromai fault, strong earthquakes recur every 2,300–5,000 years. The Upper Piltun fault—which ruptured in the 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake—branches west of the Piltun-Goromai fault and runs south-south-west until it reaches the Gyrgylanye-Dagy fault.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 300 To the west, it has a strike of 15 degrees and a dip of 60-70 degrees.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 599 Three large events in the past 1,800 years have been identified along the Upper Piltun fault. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred on the fault 2,600 years ago, and another large event occurred 4,000 years ago.Zhigulev Patrikeev 2007 18 Recurrence interval of large earthquakes on the Upper Piltun fault is estimated to be 400 years.Kozhurin 2004 277 When geodetic data was collected on the fault between 1941 and 1970, the fault was likely locked and accumulating stress.Vasilenko Prytkov Saprygin 2011 234 The lack of previously recorded seismicity also implies that the fault was locked.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 606 The Gyrgylanye-Dagy fault is the westernmost of the three, running parallel to the Piltun-Goromai fault. The slip rate is estimated to be at least 1 mm on/yr.Nicholson VanLaningham MacDonald 2013 598 Prior to this earthquake, North Sakhalin had been relatively aseismic, with the largest earthquake in the area being the w 5.8 Nogliki earthquake of 1964.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 597 Earthquake The earthquake struck on May 28 at 1:04 local time 13:03:53 UTCKlyachko 2001 1 in northern Sakhalin in the Russian Far East near the town of Neftegorsk. This w 7.1 earthquake had a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), with ESI intensity reaching XI.Tatevossian Rogozhin Arafiev Ovsyuchenko 2009 85 The earthquake was also reported to be s 7.2–7.6 and uk 7.8, depending on the source.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288Arafiev Rogozhin Aptekman Bykova 2006 595Nicholson VanLaningham MacDonald 2013 590 The earthquake struck on the right-lateral strike-slip Upper Piltun fault. The earthquake was felt widely across the island, and nearby portions of mainland Asia experienced shaking as well.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288 Sabo and Tungor experienced MSK VII (Very strong) shaking, while Okha and Nogliki felt MSK VI (Strong). On mainland Asia, Lazarev felt MSK IV (Largely observed) shaking. There were over 1,000 aftershocks recorded in the first month and a half, with none exceeding s 5.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 606Arafiev Rogozhin Aptekman Bykova 2006 858 The aftershocks spanned a length of 60–80 km on along the Upper Piltun fault.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288Katsumata Kasahara Ichiyanagi Kikuchi 2004 120 The shock ruptured for 35-46 km on at a strike of 15 degrees, with an average slip of 3.6–3.9 m on.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 599Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288, 292 The depth of faulting extended to 10–20 km on deep.Vasilenko Prytkov Saprygin 2011 234Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 606 Three separate segments of fault ruptured, with the northern section slipping the most.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 599 Horizontal (right-lateral strike slip) slip peaked at 8.1 m on, with the minor vertical (reverse) component peaking at 1.5–1.7 m on.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 599Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 294 The stress drop (how much less stress the fault is under after the earthquake) as a result of this quake was 4–11 MPa, a value typical of an intraplate earthquake.Katsumata Kasahara Ichiyanagi Kikuchi 2004 120 The large peak slip (8.1 m on) and the lack of magnitude 5 or larger aftershocks suggest that the mainshock released a significant majority of the accumulated strain on the fault.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 606 Impact thumb|left|Aerial view of Neftegorsk after disaster Due to the previous lack of strong earthquakes in the area, Neftegorsk was affected to a greater extent as it was unprepared.Leith William 27 June 1995 Sakhalin earthquake renews concerns about seismic safety in the former Soviet Union https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/95EO00151 15 May 2026 EOS Trans. AGU During the earthquake, 17 five-story residential buildings collapsed, leading to the deaths of 1,989 and 750 more injured. These buildings housed a majority of the town's population, and 90% of the fatalities were caused by the collapses. These buildings were designed to only withstand MSK VI (Strong) rather than the IX (Destructive) – X (Devastating) experienced by Neftegorsk.Klyachko 2001 1Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 294Melentyev 1999 229-230 The 650 residents who lived in the shorter brick buildings—which didn't collapse—survived the earthquake. In nearby Okha, furniture broke and balconies fell off from two five-story buildings. This earthquake was the most destructive earthquake ever recorded within modern day Russian borders.Arefiev Rogozhin Tatevossian Rivera 2000 595 The earthquake instantly cut off the power, water, and telephone lines, and severely damaged infrastructure, with "destruction of buildings, bridges, railways and roads, breakage of oil and gas pipelines, electric and communication lines".Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288 The administration building, a building to generate heat, and some shops were also destroyed.Johnson 1998 59 The destroyed railway had deformation up to 300 m on long, with locations close to the rupture even experiencing wave-like bends. Two oil pipelines were badly damaged in the area, and as a result began leaking oil which seeped into small lakes. Telegraph poles, railways beds, and even a locomotive at the railway station–all shifted to the east-southeast.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 295, 298 The Belgian Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters' EM-DAT database places the total damage at $64.1 million, while the United States' National Geophysical Data Center assesses the damage at $300 million. Geological effects The earthquake caused significant surface changes, including landslides, new islands, surface fractures, liquefaction, and mud volcanoes. Landslides damaged roads, and were observed on almost every coastal slope near the rupture area. The largest landslide was 50 km3 on and blocked the Cadylanye River for a short period. Mud volcanoes cropped up both near the fault and dozens of kilometers away, with the strongest and most concentrated examples occurring 25 km on from the source. Surface ruptures were widespread across northern Sakhalin.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288, 297-298 In Piltun Bay, several new small, sandy islands formed.Kharakhinov Litvinov Beketsky 1997 Liquefaction was observed outside the epicentral region along the seashore.Tatevossian Rogozhin Arafiev Ovsyuchenko 2009 85 Aftermath Response Immediately after the earthquake struck, Russian rescue teams from the surrounding areas prepared to deliver aid, involving eighteen planes and helicopters. However, some aid aircraft were unable to land due to heavy fog. As the temperature across the Sakhalin region was bitterly cold, the cargo included blankets along with food. The Russian government allocated 30 billion rubles to use on rescue and aid. Authorities were able to secure basic necessities for survivors providing food, water, and shelter. The largest transport planes faced challenges in delivering their cargo to Neftegorsk as they were too large to land at the nearby airport. Field hospitals were set up and hundreds of injured victims were medevaced to larger nearby cities such as Khabarovsk.Johnson 1998 Japan offered up "tents, sleeping bags, blankets, and medical supplies", but then President of Russia Boris Yeltsin personally turned it down due to worries about the Kuril Islands dispute. After the rescue operations had been carried out, Russian authorities decided not to rebuild Neftegorsk, ostensibly because of the residents' desire to move away from the trauma of the earthquake. However, the LA Times attributed the decision to the Russian treasury shortage of funds and diminished potential of the nearby oil wells. When government officials offered a chance to move elsewhere on Sakhalin, the former residents wanted only compensation rather than a new place of residence on the island. After the earthquake, Neftegorsk completely emptied out and became a ghost town. Due to the unprecedented and unpredicted seismicity in the area, the building code and seismic risk maps were soon updated to reflect the earthquake and its impacts.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 300 Scientific interest At the time of the event, the maps of the plate boundary between the Amur microplate and the Okhotsk microplate were poorly defined, as the area had never experienced severe earthquakes.Katsumata Kasahara Ichiyanagi Kikuchi 2004 117 In the aftermath of the Neftegorsk earthquake, many scientific studies were conducted to help understand the earthquake and the tectonic background of the area it struck in. A total of 26 research papers have been published on the earthquake alone. Despite many seismic sensors being removed from the island just before the earthquake due to a lack of funding, it still provided valuable insight into understanding and resolving the insufficiently understood plate boundary.Ivaschenko Kim Oscorkin Poplavskaya 1997 288Katsumata Kasahara Ichiyanagi Kikuchi 2004 129 See also List of earthquakes in 1995 List of earthquakes in Russia Notes References The Sakhalin Earthquake of May 27, 1995 https://www.eeri.org/lfe/pdf/Russia_Sakhalin_Insert_Jul95.pdf 29 February 2024 EERI Special Report 1995 Efron Sonni 7.5 Quake Kills 300 on Russia's Sakhalin Island https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-29-mn-7275-story.html LA Times 7 December 2024 May 29, 1995 Boudreaux Richard Next Step : Erasing Another Communist Error : Neftegorsk was a village that never should have been. Now a tragic quake and Khrushchev's heirs are 'correcting' his folly. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-06-06-wr-9929-story.html LA Times 6 June 1995 24 December 2024 ‘Everything that could fall had already fallen’ 25 years ago, an earthquake destroyed the town of Neftegorsk in Russia’s Sakhalin region and killed two thousand people https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/01/07/everything-that-could-fall-had-already-fallen Meduza 3 August 2025 Quake on Russian Island in Pacific Kills at Least 300 https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/29/world/quake-on-russian-island-in-pacific-kills-at-least-300.html 29 February 2024 Associated Press The New York Times 29 May 1995 PAGER-CAT Earthquake Catalog https://earthquake.usgs.gov/static/lfs/data/pager/catalogs/ September 4, 2009 United States Geological Survey Version 2008_06.1 EB 106336 EHB 106336 Russian Federation - Sakhalin Island Earthquake Situation Report No.10 https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/russian-federation-sakhalin-island-earthquake-situation-report-no10 ReliefWeb 24 December 2024 3 June 1995 Chapter 8 Geological Hazards in the Project Area 2005-11-23 https://www.sakhalinenergy.ru/media/user/libraryeng/jap/h8en.pdf 2024-12-23 M 7.1 - 85 km S of Tungor, Russia https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp0006y50/executive United States Geological Survey 10 December 2024 Sources Arafiev S. Rogozhin E. Aptekman Z. Bykova V. Dorbath C. Deep structure and tomographic imaging of strong earthquake source zones Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth October 2006 42 10 850–863 10.1134/S1069351306100090 2006IzPSE..42..850A https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1069351306100090 24 December 2024 subscription Arefiev S. Rogozhin E. Tatevossian R. Rivera L. Cisternas A. The Neftegorsk (Sakhalin Island) 1995 earthquake: a rare interplate event Geophysical Journal International December 2000 143 3 595–607 10.1046/j.1365-246X.2000.00234.x 2000GeoJI.143..595A free Aref'ev S. S. Dorbath K. The 1995 Neftegorsk Earthquake: Tomography of the Source Zone Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth 2001 37 2 58–68 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers13-07/010037289.pdf 7 December 2024 Ivaschenko A. Kim C. Oscorkin L. Poplavskaya L. Poplavsky A. Burymskaya R. Mikhailova T. Vasilenko N. Streltsov M. The Neftegorsk, Sakhalin Island, earthquake of 27 May 1995 Island Arc September 1997 6 3 288–302 10.1111/j.1440-1738.1997.tb00179.x 1997IsArc...6..288I https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1440-1738.1997.tb00179.x 24 December 2024 subscription Johnson Mark S. The Tale of the Tragedy of Neftegorsk Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 13 1 59–64 10.1017/S1049023X00033057 10187029 24891242 1998 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/prehospital-and-disaster-medicine/article/abs/tale-of-the-tragedy-of-neftegorsk/49043A4ABEE2A9FB2BB1BC00B9A1A7F0 7 December 2024 subscription Katsumata Kei Kasahara Minoru Ichiyanagi Masayoshi Kikuchi Masayuki Sen Rak-Se Kim Chun-Un Ivaschenko Alexei Tatevossian Ruben The 27 May 1995 Ms 7.6 Northern Sakhalin Earthquake: An Earthquake on an Uncertain Plate Boundary Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 1 February 2004 94 1 117–130 10.1785/0120020175 https://www.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~kkatsu/ronbun/Paper1PDF/BSSA2004.pdf 2004BuSSA..94..117K 7 December 2024 9 December 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211209182940/https://www.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~kkatsu/ronbun/Paper1PDF/BSSA2004.pdf dead Neftegorsk Earthquake, 28 May 1995, Sakhalin Island The Seventh International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference Kharakhinov V. 1997-05-25 https://onepetro.org/ISOPEIOPEC/proceedings-abstract/ISOPE97/All-ISOPE97/23644 Litvinov S. Beketsky S. King Stephanie Khalturin Vitaly Tucker Brian Melentyev A. Seismic Hazard and Building Vulnerability in Post-Soviet Central Asian Republics 1999 Springer 229–235 978-90-481-5176-9 10.1007/978-94-017-2971-0_10 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-017-2971-0_10 24 December 2024 Lessons of the 1995 Sakhalin and 1994 Kuril Islands Earthquakes Geotechnical Lessons Learnt From Neftegorsk Earthquake 4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Klyachko Mark A. 2001-03-28 http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icrageesd/04icrageesd/session10/9 Kozhurin Andrei Active faulting at the Eurasian, North American and Pacific plates junction Tectonophysics 12 March 2004 380 3–4 273–285 10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.024 2004Tectp.380..273K https://repository.geologyscience.ru/bitstream/handle/123456789/39433/Kozh_04.pdf 24 December 2024 Nicholson Uisdean VanLaningham Sam MacDonald David Quaternary landscape evolution over a strike-slip plate boundary: Drainage network response to incipient orogenesis in Sakhalin, Russian far east Geosphere 1 June 2013 9 3 588–601 10.1130/GES00883.1 free 2013Geosp...9..588N Tatevossian R. Rogozhin E. Arafiev S. Ovsyuchenko A. Earthquake intensity assessment based on environmental effects: principles and case studies Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2009 316 1 73–91 10.1144/sp316.5 2009GSLSP.316...73T https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/sp316.5 25 December 2024 subscription Vasilenko N. Prytkov A. Saprygin S. Horizontal motions and the generation of strong earthquakes in the North Sakhalin interiors Russian Journal of Pacific Geology 17 June 2011 5 3 234–237 10.1134/S1819714011030092 2011RuJPG...5..234V https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1819714011030092 25 December 2024 subscription Zhigulev V. Patrikeev V. Shallow seismic refraction analysis: Application to studying the active North Sakhalin fault Russian Journal of Pacific Geology February 2007 1 1 15–21 10.1134/S1819714007010034 2007RuJPG...1...15Z https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1819714007010034 24 December 2024 subscription External links 7.5 Quake Kills 300 on Russia's Sakhalin Island – Los Angeles Times The Sakhalin earthquake of May 27, 1995 – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute 106336 Neftegorsk Earthquake, 1995 Category:Sakhalin Neftegorsk Earthquake, 1995 Category:Earthquakes in the Russian Far East Category:May 1995 in Russia