QuakeScout
Magnitude7.5

Reviewed by USGSJapan118y ago

M7.5 earthquake 18 km SE of Honmachi, Japan

Wednesday, November 10, 1909, 06:13:29 UTC · 32.403°N, 130.752°E

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck 18 km SE of Honmachi, Japan on Wednesday, November 10, 1909, 06:13:29 UTC, at a depth of 140.0 km (intermediate). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude
7.5
Major · mB
Depth
140 km
Intermediate
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

2.7 megatons of TNT

That is about 178 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 5,623 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

46 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: intermediate

140 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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 200 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 4 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.161 km ESE of Nishinoomote, JapanAugust 24, 1904 · 228 km S of this epicenter
  2. 6.931 km SSW of Hikari, JapanJune 2, 1905 · 173 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 6.636 km E of Nobeoka, JapanMarch 13, 1906 · 123 km E of this epicenter
  4. 6.546 km SE of Koshima, JapanMarch 10, 1909 · 275 km S of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 16,061 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1792M6.4

    Kyusyu Island

    21 May 1792 · 61 km away

    15,030 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami

  2. 1700M7.0

    Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture

    16 Apr 1700 · 241 km away

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

  3. 1889M6.3

    Kumamoto

    28 Jul 1889 · 44 km away

    20 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

  4. 1905M7.8

    Aki

    2 Jun 1905 · 212 km away

    11 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)

  5. 1769M7.4

    Sw. Kyushu Island, Japan

    29 Aug 1769 · 118 km away

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

  6. 1899M7.1

    Seikaido

    24 Nov 1899 · 130 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers

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