Japan earthquakes

M5.3 earthquake 15 km SE of Hitachi, Japan

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 15 km SE of Hitachi, Japan on Wed, Jul 27, 2016, 11:47 PM JST (14:47 UTC), 46 km (29 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.4 48 km ESE of Hitachi, Japan. This one was a foreshock.

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Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.3 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Wed, Jul 27, 2016, 11:47 PM JST
UTC: 2016-07-27 14:47:17 UTC
Depth: 46.0 km (28.6 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 36.492° N, 140.758° E
Region: Japan
Felt reports: 125
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
5.3	Mww, W-phase moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.32	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.1	Mwr, regional moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Moment tensor · Reviewed
5.3	Mwb, body-wave moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Moment tensor · Reviewed

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Felt (V) at Hitachi and (IV) at Tsuchiura and Yokohama; (III) at Kawaguchi, Komae, Naka, Sendai, Tokyo and Urayasu. Felt in much of east-central Honshu. Recorded (5L JMA) in Ibaraki.

From the USGS event page for us20006i35. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Did you feel it?

125 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was V, moderate shaking.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Reverse (thrust)
Moment magnitude: 5.3 Mww
Nodal plane 1: Strike 7°, dip 65°, rake 101°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 161°, dip 27°, rake 67°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Location uncertainty: About 4.8 km horizontally, 1.9 km in depth
Depth from: From modeling of broad-band P waveforms
Station coverage gap: 88°
Stations used: 245

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 14 in the 60 days after this one and 13 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

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Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20006i35 (also filed as iscgem611830231). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC.