Magnitude6.3

Reviewed by USGSJapan115y ago

M6.3 earthquake 97 km SSW of Muroto-misakicho, Japan

Wednesday, April 2, 1913, 23:52:39 UTC · 32.448°N, 133.859°E

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck 97 km SSW of Muroto-misakicho, Japan on Wednesday, April 2, 1913, 23:52:39 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.7 on January 5, 1913.

Magnitude
6.3
Strong · mw
Depth
15 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

51 kilotons of TNT

That is about 3 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 106 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

63 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Amur and Philippine Sea plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 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 5 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 13 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 9,031 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1707M8.4

    Nankaido

    28 Oct 1707 · 121 km away

    5,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami

  2. 1854M8.4

    Nankaido

    24 Dec 1854 · 129 km away

    3,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami

  3. 1711M6.7

    Seionaikai, Japan

    20 Dec 1711 · 206 km away

    1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1889M6.3

    Kumamoto

    28 Jul 1889 · 298 km away

    20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

  5. 1905M7.8

    Aki

    2 Jun 1905 · 244 km away

    11 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

  6. 1769M7.4

    Sw. Kyushu Island, Japan

    29 Aug 1769 · 175 km away

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages