Very strong mag. 6.4 earthquake - 147 km east of Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan, on Sunday, April 23, 1933 at 07:13 GMT

Date & time: Apr 23, 1933 07:13:44 UTC
Magnitude: 6.4
Depth: 15.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 39.098°N / 143.557°E (North Pacific Ocean, Japan)
Antipode: 39.098°S / 36.443°W
Nearest volcano: Iwate (235 km / 146 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
144 km (90 mi) ESE of Yamada (Shimohei-gun) (pop: 20,100) --> See nearby quakes!
146 km (91 mi) E of Ōtsuchi (Kamihei-gun) (pop: 16,500) --> See nearby quakes!
147 km (91 mi) E of Kamaishi (pop: 43,100) --> See nearby quakes!
152 km (94 mi) ESE of Miyako (pop: 51,700) --> See nearby quakes!
159 km (99 mi) E of Ofunato (pop: 35,400) --> See nearby quakes!
176 km (109 mi) E of Tōno (pop: 26,800) --> See nearby quakes!
217 km (135 mi) ESE of Morioka (pop: 295,200) --> See nearby quakes!
251 km (156 mi) ENE of Sendai (pop: 1,063,100) --> See nearby quakes!
510 km (317 mi) NE of Tokyo (pop: 8,336,600) --> See nearby quakes!
523 km (325 mi) NE of Kawasaki (pop: 1,306,800) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 2.5 x 10¹⁴ joules (69.8 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 60036 tons of TNT or 3.8 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Japan

Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake ruptured along a surface of approx. 251 km² (=97 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 27 km (17 mi).
Aftershocks typically occur during the weeks and months following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone.
The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock (check on the map below to verify).

Please wait while we search through millions of records.
This can take up to 20-30 seconds.

Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!