M5.1 earthquake 92 km SE of Naze, Japan

Sunday, December 10, 1995, 14:53:40 UTC · 27.748°N, 130.113°E

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 92 km SE of Naze, Japan on Sunday, December 10, 1995, 14:53:40 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.3 on November 8, 1995.

Magnitude: 5.1; Moderate · mb
Depth: 33 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

674 tons of TNT

That is about 1/22 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

37 km

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

Depth: shallow

33 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 75 km

USGS lists 18 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.1 on January 6, 1996. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 387 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 7 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 12 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1911M8.0
Ryukyu Islands
15 Jun 1911 · 30 km away
12 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1901M7.9
Ryukyu Islands
24 Jun 1901 · 84 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1995M7.1
Ryuku Is.
18 Oct 1995 · 21 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1916M8.0
Duda
1 Feb 1916 · 237 km away
1904M7.9
Kyushu
24 Aug 1904 · 251 km away
1995M6.8
Ryuku Is.
19 Oct 1995 · 39 km away
tsunami

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

Nearby trackers