M5.3 earthquake 137 km E of Yamada, Japan
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 137 km E of Yamada, Japan on Sat, Aug 20, 2016, 2:14 PM JST (05:14 UTC), 23 km (15 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M6.0 170 km ENE of Miyako, Japan. This one was a foreshock.
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
- 2016-08-20 05:14:57 UTC
- Depth
- 23.4 km (14.6 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 39.560° N, 143.540° E
- Region
- Japan
- Felt reports
- 3
- 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 |
| 5.28 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt at Hachinohe and Misawa and in Kodama. Recorded (2 JMA) in Akita, Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi.
From the USGS event page for us10006fcw. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
3 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was II, weak 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 18°, dip 75°, rake 92°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 189°, dip 15°, rake 81°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 6.3 km horizontally, 4.1 km in depth
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 134°
- Stations used
- 243
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 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.6156 km E of Yamada, Japan · 3696 days ago · 10 km deep · 22 km away · felt by 1
- 6.0170 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3696 days ago · 10 km deep · 93 km away · felt by 7
- 4.4184 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3696 days ago · 10 km deep · 80 km away
- 4.4181 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3696 days ago · 6 km deep · 83 km away
- 5.8169 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 11 km deep · 85 km away · felt by 6
- 4.7174 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 71 km away
- 5.2168 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 96 km away
- 5.2171 km ENE of Miyako, Japan · 3695 days ago · 10 km deep · 86 km away
- 5.3145 km E of Miyako, Japan · 3694 days ago · 6 km deep · 23 km away
- 4.1119 km ESE of Yamada, Japan · 3682 days ago · 10 km deep · 58 km away
- 4.1133 km E of Yamada, Japan · 3681 days ago · 23 km deep · 11 km away
- 4.449 km ESE of ?tsuchi, Japan · 3665 days ago · 48 km deep · 99 km away
- 4.464 km ESE of Yamada, Japan · 3661 days ago · 35 km deep · 87 km away
- 4.1196 km ESE of Yamada, Japan · 3660 days ago · 10 km deep · 85 km away
Earthquakes todayJapan earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us10006fcw (also filed as iscgem609370647). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 1:54 AM UTC.