QuakeScout
Magnitude4.2

Reviewed by USGSJapan31y ago

M4.2 earthquake 88 km SSE of Naze, Japan

Sunday, December 24, 1995, 09:05:31 UTC · 27.648°N, 129.872°E

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 88 km SSE of Naze, Japan on Sunday, December 24, 1995, 09:05:31 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.2
Light · 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: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

30 tons of TNT

That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

53 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 50 km

USGS lists 4 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.3 on January 4, 1996. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M41h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.2
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 4.088 km SE of Naze, Japan31y ago · 32 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 4.383 km SE of Naze, Japan31y ago · 35 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 4.092 km SE of Naze, Japan31y ago · 31 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 3.482 km ESE of Naze, Japan31y ago · 46 km NE of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 394 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.9108 km NW of Naze, JapanJune 15, 1911 · 196 km NW of this epicenter
  2. 7.678 km S of Naze, JapanJune 16, 1938 · 39 km W of this epicenter
  3. 7.4152 km ESE of Koshima, JapanFebruary 1, 1916 · 285 km NE of this epicenter
  4. 7.2Ryukyu Islands, JapanJune 24, 1901 · 41 km N of this epicenter
  5. 7.2101 km NE of Naze, JapanNovember 5, 1923 · 148 km N of this epicenter
  6. 7.183 km SE of Naze, JapanOctober 18, 1995 · 43 km NE of this epicenter
  7. 7.0126 km ESE of Koshima, JapanJuly 18, 1961 · 288 km NE of this epicenter
  8. 7.0122 km SSE of Koshima, JapanMarch 21, 1942 · 193 km NE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 11 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 12 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1911M8.0

    Ryukyu Islands

    15 Jun 1911 · 41 km away

    12 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  2. 1901M7.9

    Ryukyu Islands

    24 Jun 1901 · 73 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  3. 1995M7.1

    Ryuku Is.

    18 Oct 1995 · 43 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  4. 1768M6.5

    Ryukyu Islands

    22 Jul 1768 · 285 km away

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  5. 1916M8.0

    Duda

    1 Feb 1916 · 260 km away

  6. 1904M7.9

    Kyushu

    24 Aug 1904 · 262 km away

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages