Reviewed by USGSJapan122y ago
M6.6 earthquake 36 km E of Nobeoka, Japan
Tuesday, March 13, 1906, 13:26:40 UTC · 32.560°N, 132.052°E
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck 36 km E of Nobeoka, Japan on Tuesday, March 13, 1906, 13:26:40 UTC, at a depth of 30.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.9 on June 2, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 6.6
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 30 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
138 kilotons of TNT
That is about 9 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 288 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
94 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Amur and Okinawa plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
30 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 15 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 24,865 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1792M6.4
Kyusyu Island
21 May 1792 · 166 km away
15,030 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1707M8.4
Nankaido
28 Oct 1707 · 266 km away
5,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1854M8.4
Nankaido
24 Dec 1854 · 282 km away
3,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1711M6.7
Seionaikai, Japan
20 Dec 1711 · 265 km away
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1872M7.4
Honshu: Sw
14 Mar 1872 · 260 km away
804 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1889M6.3
Kumamoto
28 Jul 1889 · 129 km away
20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.