M6.0 earthquake 170 km ENE of Miyako, Japan
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 170 km ENE of Miyako, Japan on Sat, Aug 20, 2016, 6:01 PM JST (09:01 UTC), 10 km (6 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 6.0 (Mww, W-phase moment), strong
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-08-20 09:01:26 UTC
- Depth
- 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 40.394° N, 143.680° E
- Region
- Japan
- Felt reports
- 7
- Strongest shaking
- IV, light shaking
- PAGER alert
- Green
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 6.01 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.0 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
Deaths and damage
From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 10481), matched to this event by time and place.
NOAA’s record of this earthquake gives no deaths, injuries or damage.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt (II) at Misawa. Also felt at Hachinohe and Sendai. Felt at Sapporo, Hokkaido. Recorded (3 JMA) in Iwate, Honshu.
From the USGS event page for us10006fdp. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Shaking
The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
- Strongest estimated
- IV, light shaking
- Map
- Automatic
Did you feel it?
7 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was II, weak shaking.
Estimated impact
The USGS PAGER system estimates deaths and economic losses from the shaking and the population and buildings exposed to it.
- Alert level
- Green: little or no damage or loss of life expected
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
- 6.0 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 16°, dip 77°, rake 90°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 197°, dip 13°, rake 91°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 6.9 km horizontally, 1.8 km in depth
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 36°
- Stations used
- 175
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 3.0 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.4184 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 33 km away
- 4.4181 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 6 km deep · 26 km away
- 5.8169 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 11 km deep · 10 km away · felt by 6
- 4.7174 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 32 km away
- 5.2168 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 5 km away
- 5.2171 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 10 km away
- 5.2191 km E of Hachinohe, Japan · 3694 days ago · 10 km deep · 32 km away · felt by 4
- 5.3145 km E of Miyako, Japan · 3694 days ago · 6 km deep · 71 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayJapan earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us10006fdp (also filed as gcmt20160820090126, iscgem609370653). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC.