Reviewed by USGSJapan122y ago
M6.5 earthquake 88 km NW of Hirara, Japan
Wednesday, May 2, 1906, 01:13:38 UTC · 25.361°N, 124.680°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 88 km NW of Hirara, Japan on Wednesday, May 2, 1906, 01:13:38 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 25 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
85 kilotons of TNT
That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 178 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
2 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Yangtze and Okinawa plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
25 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 no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 14,122 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1771M7.4
Ryukyu Islands
24 Apr 1771 · 156 km away
13,486 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1867M7.0
Chilung (Keelung)
18 Dec 1867 · 278 km away
580 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1897M6.0
Yilan
19 Mar 1897 · 299 km away · intensity VIII
56 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
- 1768M6.5
Ryukyu Islands
22 Jul 1768 · 297 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1858
Ryukyu Islands
Sep 1858 · 297 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.