Reviewed by USGSJapan30y ago
M4.2 earthquake 104 km SSE of Naze, Japan
Saturday, April 20, 1996, 13:05:29 UTC · 27.538°N, 129.995°E
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 104 km SSE of Naze, Japan on Saturday, April 20, 1996, 13:05:29 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · ms
- 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 earthquake
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
36 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 393 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.9108 km NW of Naze, JapanJune 15, 1911 · 213 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.678 km S of Naze, JapanJune 16, 1938 · 53 km W of this epicenter
- 7.4152 km ESE of Koshima, JapanFebruary 1, 1916 · 286 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.2Ryukyu Islands, JapanJune 24, 1901 · 51 km N of this epicenter
- 7.2101 km NE of Naze, JapanNovember 5, 1923 · 157 km N of this epicenter
- 7.183 km SE of Naze, JapanOctober 18, 1995 · 47 km N of this epicenter
- 7.0126 km ESE of Koshima, JapanJuly 18, 1961 · 291 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.0122 km SSE of Koshima, JapanMarch 21, 1942 · 199 km NE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 10 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 · 51 km away
12 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1901M7.9
Ryukyu Islands
24 Jun 1901 · 60 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1995M7.1
Ryuku Is.
18 Oct 1995 · 47 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1768M6.5
Ryukyu Islands
22 Jul 1768 · 289 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1916M8.0
Duda
1 Feb 1916 · 263 km away
- 1904M7.9
Kyushu
24 Aug 1904 · 274 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.