Very strong mag. 6.4 earthquake - 119 km east of Miyako, Iwate, Japan, on Wednesday, March 23, 1960 at 01:07 GMT
Quake Data | Interactive map | User Reports | Aftershocks | Earlier quakes here | Quakes in Japan | Iwate | Aomori | Hokkaido | Tokyo


Very strong magnitude 6.4 earthquake at 15 km depth
Magnitude: 6.4
Depth: 15.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 39.516°N / 143.321°E

Antipode: 39.516°S / 36.679°W
Nearest volcano: Nanashigure (199 km / 124 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
118 km (73 mi) E of Yamada (Shimohei-gun) (pop: 20,100) --> See nearby quakes!
119 km (74 mi) E of Miyako (pop: 51,700) --> See nearby quakes!
128 km (79 mi) ENE of Kamaishi (pop: 43,100) --> See nearby quakes!
147 km (91 mi) ENE of Ofunato (pop: 35,400) --> See nearby quakes!
187 km (116 mi) E of Morioka (pop: 295,200) --> See nearby quakes!
190 km (118 mi) SE of Hachinohe (pop: 239,000) --> See nearby quakes!
190 km (118 mi) E of Hanamaki (pop: 73,100) --> See nearby quakes!
191 km (119 mi) E of Kitakami (pop: 93,900) --> See nearby quakes!
428 km (266 mi) SSE of Sapporo (pop: 1,883,000) --> See nearby quakes!
532 km (331 mi) NE of Tokyo (pop: 8,336,600) --> 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
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag. | Depth | Location | Source |
6.4 | 15 km | off the east coast of Honshu, Japan | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
[More info]
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (4 quakes)
Date and time![]() | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
Mar 23, 1960 22:22 62 years ago | 6.2 15 km | 126 km E of Miyako, Iwate, Japan | More |
Mar 23, 1960 11:51 62 years ago | 5.8 25 km | 147 km E of Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan | More |
Mar 23, 1960 10:28 62 years ago | 5.9 25 km | 150 km E of Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan | More |
Mar 23, 1960 08:46 62 years ago | 5.9 15 km | 111 km E of Miyako, Iwate, Japan | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!