Moderate mag. 4.6 earthquake - North Pacific Ocean, 122 km east of Miyako, Iwate, Japan, on Saturday, 2 December 1989 at 12:50 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 4.6 earthquake - North Pacific Ocean, 122 km east of Miyako, Iwate, Japan, on Saturday, 2 December 1989 at 12:50 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 4.6 earthquake at 23 km depth

Date & time: 2 Dec 1989 12:50:02 UTC
Magnitude: 4.6
Depth: 22.6 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 39.378°N / 143.321°E (North Pacific Ocean, Japan)
Nearest volcano: Nanashigure (204 km / 127 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
118 km (73 mi) E of Yamada (Shimohei-gun) (pop: 20,100) --> See nearby quakes!
122 km (76 mi) ESE of Miyako (pop: 51,700) --> See nearby quakes!
126 km (78 mi) E of Kamaishi (pop: 43,100) --> See nearby quakes!
190 km (118 mi) E of Morioka (pop: 295,200) --> See nearby quakes!
190 km (118 mi) E of Kitakami (pop: 93,900) --> See nearby quakes!
199 km (124 mi) SE of Hachinohe (pop: 239,000) --> See nearby quakes!
205 km (127 mi) ENE of Ishinomaki (pop: 117,200) --> See nearby quakes!
246 km (153 mi) ENE of Sendai (pop: 1,063,100) --> See nearby quakes!
503 km (313 mi) NE of Saitama (pop: 1,193,400) --> See nearby quakes!
520 km (323 mi) NE of Tokyo (pop: 8,336,600) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 5 x 1011 joules (139 megawatt hours, equivalent to 120 tons of TNT) More info
Show interactive Map
[smaller] [bigger]
If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!
Also if you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable also to earthquake science and earthquake hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you!

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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 4.623 kmoff the east coast of Honshu, JapanUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android
Why is there advertising on this site?
Support us - Help us upgrade our services!
We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).

Planned features:
  • Weather reports
  • Tsunami alerts
  • Design upgrades
  • Faster responsiveness
Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:
  • Earthquake archive from 1900 onwards
  • Additional seismic data sources
  • Improved content in English
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:
Android | IOS
Thank you!
Copyrights: VolcanoDiscovery and other sources as noted.
Use of material: Most texts and images, in particular photographs, on this website are protected by copyright. Further reproduction and use of without authorization is usually not consented. If you are not sure or need licensing rights for photographs, for example for publications and commercial use, please contact us.