March 14, 1872 Earthquake: SW, Honshu, Japan

Reference #414:

1872, March 14, [17:20 local time]. There was a strong earthquake in Shimane Prefecture, where Nada district suffered especially. Light damage was recorded in Nima, Ochi, Ano and Mino districts. At Hamada, which was in the pleistoseismic zone, there were 543 homes damaged, 210 homes half destroyed and 168 homes completely destroyed; 92 homes burned down; 97 people were killed and 200 people were injured. In the Kanoashi district, the tremors were rather strong, but there was no destruction. In all 552 people died in the earthquake; about 5,000 homes collapsed.

The earthquake was preceded by foreshocks. An underground rumbling was heard four or five days before the main shock. On March 14, a rather strong foreshock was felt at about 11:00 [Local time] and was also accompanied by a rumble. A second strong foreshock occurred at 16:00, another one of less force occurred an hour later, and the main earthquake struck 10 minutes later. It was associated with large changes in the relief of the earth's surface. The main fault apparently crossed Hamada, in a northeast direction. The southeastern flank, made up of Tertiary formations, rose, while the northwestern flank, made up of pre-Tertiary formations, subsided. Corresponding vertical displacements were traced for 20 km on the coast.

There are reports that the visible changes in relief and the associated changes in sea level began not long before the main earthquake. After the earthquake, a tsunami was observed on the coast of three districts: Nima, Naka and Mino. It frightened the residents considerably, but did no damage.

Reference #150:

Mar 14, 1872, 34.9 N,m 132 E, magnitude 7.4. Tsunami height 3m at Fukumitsu. 804 deaths, 5796 houses destroyed in total. Sea receded before the shock. Land 2.4 m upheaved at Hamada.

Reference #1068:

March 14, 1872, 35 N 132.5 E, 600 deaths, 5,000 houses destroyed... In the Hamada earthquake of 1872 there was an uplift of the shore amounting to 6 1/2 feet, thirty minutes before a widely felt. shock. Fishermen began to gather stranded fish and shells on a bared narrow bar joining the shore with an islet. Immediately after the shock they rushed to higher ground and escaped the moderate tsunami which followed. On one side of a line through Hamada there was permanent upheaval to a maximum of 6 1/2 feet, and on the other side, depression amounting to 3 1/2 feet, the total distance affected being about 12 miles. There were foreshocks with noise four or five days before the earthquake, and two on the same day.

Reference #1055:

Mar 13, 1872, Iwami, Japan, intensity II which corresponds to buildings may be unroofed or shattered and some may fall, the ground may be badly cracked in places and small landslips occur.