M5.3 earthquake 7 km S of Sawara, Japan
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 7 km S of Sawara, Japan on Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 11:49 AM JST (02:49 UTC), 19 km (12 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-10-20 02:49:53 UTC
- Depth
- 18.9 km (11.8 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 35.820° N, 140.508° E
- Region
- Japan
- Felt reports
- 82
- 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 |
| 5.3 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.2 | 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 (IV) at Chiba, Narita and Tsuchiura; (III) at Tokyo and Tomisato; (II) at Kawasaki and Yokohama. Felt widely in east-central Honshu.
From the USGS event page for us20007fic. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
82 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was IV, light 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 55°, dip 62°, rake 78°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 259°, dip 30°, rake 111°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 5.1 km horizontally, 3.1 km in depth
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 29°
- Stations used
- 184
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 11 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.48 km ESE of Omigawa, Japan · 3633 days ago · 43 km deep · 18 km away
- 4.2near the east coast of Honshu, Japan · 3630 days ago · 59 km deep · 35 km away · felt by 42
- 4.541 km SE of Hasaki, Japan · 3625 days ago · 27 km deep · 71 km away
- 4.255 km ESE of Hitachi, Japan · 3617 days ago · 35 km deep · 89 km away
- 4.66 km NE of Kasukabe, Japan · 3616 days ago · 90 km deep · 66 km away
- 4.717 km N of Hasaki, Japan · 3611 days ago · 40 km deep · 32 km away · felt by 12
- 4.24 km E of Chiba, Japan · 3609 days ago · 63 km deep · 40 km away · felt by 30
- 4.123 km ENE of Hasaki, Japan · 3606 days ago · 43 km deep · 50 km away
- 5.023 km NNE of Hasaki, Japan · 3605 days ago · 19 km deep · 43 km away · felt by 27
- 4.72 km SSW of Chiba, Japan · 3593 days ago · 73 km deep · 45 km away · felt by 12
- 4.022 km NE of Hasaki, Japan · 3580 days ago · 37 km deep · 46 km away · felt by 1
Before
Earthquakes todayJapan earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20007fic (also filed as iscgem611830841). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC.