How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

Q: How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. Based on data from the past 14 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 102 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi). It has had at least 9 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 10 to 15 years.

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Mag. 3.8 earthquake - Japan: NE KUMAMOTO PREF on Friday, Apr 26, 2024, at 10:29 am (GMT +9) -

A moderate magnitude 3.8 earthquake hit 3.6 km (2.2 mi) away from Aso, Kumamoto, Japan, in the morning of Friday, Apr 26, 2024 at 10.29 am local time (GMT +9). The quake had a very shallow depth of 8.4 km (5.2 mi) and was reported felt by some people near the epicenter.

Mag. 3.8 earthquake - Japan: NE KUMAMOTO PREF on Friday, Apr 26, 2024, at 10:29 am (GMT +9)

Light magnitude 3.8 earthquake at 8 km depth

26 Apr 01:35 UTC: First to report: NIED after 6 minutes.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Apr 26, 2024 01:29:19 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Friday, Apr 26, 2024, at 10:29 am (GMT +9)
Status	Confirmed (manually revised)
Magnitude	3.8
Depth	8.4 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	32.956°N / 131.111°E Aso-gun, Kumamoto, Japan
Seismic antipode	32.956°S / 48.889°W Brazil
Shaking intensity	IV Light shaking near epicenter
Felt	1 report
Primary data source	NIED (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience)
Nearest volcano	Aso (8 km / 5 mi)
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 16°C (61 F), humidity: 69%, wind: 0 m/s (1 kts) from NNE
Estimated seismic energy released	3.2 x 10¹⁰ joules (8.78 megawatt hours, equivalent to 7.56 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Kurume, a city with more than 240,000 inhabitants in Japan, in 68 km (42 mi) distance northwest of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there. Many smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking. In the capital of

Japan, Tokyo, 844 km (525 mi) away from the epicenter, the earthquake could not be felt.
The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

Distance	Place	Max. shaking intensity(*)	Region	Country
4 km (2 mi) SW of epicenter	Aso (pop: 28,000)	IV: Light	Kumamoto	Japan
24 km (15 mi) W of epicenter	Ōzu (pop: 29,800)	III: Weak	Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto	Japan
27 km (17 mi) E of epicenter	Takedamachi (pop: 16,400)	III: Weak	Taketa-shi, Oita	Japan
28 km (17 mi) W of epicenter	Kikuchi (pop: 26,700)	III: Weak	Kumamoto	Japan
36 km (22 mi) N of epicenter	Tsukawaki (pop: 18,400)	III: Weak	Kusu-gun, Oita	Japan
38 km (24 mi) SW of epicenter	Mifune (pop: 16,900)	III: Weak	Kamimashiki-gun, Kumamoto	Japan
40 km (25 mi) W of epicenter	Uekimachi-mōno (pop: 31,700)	III: Weak	Kumamoto Shi, Kumamoto	Japan
40 km (25 mi) W of epicenter	Yamaga (pop: 32,300)	III: Weak	Kumamoto	Japan
44 km (27 mi) N of epicenter	Hita (pop: 61,500)	III: Weak	Oita	Japan
51 km (32 mi) NE of epicenter	Beppu (pop: 125,100)	II: Very weak	Oita	Japan
51 km (32 mi) SW of epicenter	Uto (pop: 39,200)	II: Very weak	Kumamoto	Japan
54 km (33 mi) SW of epicenter	Matsubase (pop: 26,200)	II: Very weak	Uki Shi, Kumamoto	Japan
59 km (37 mi) NW of epicenter	Tanushimarumachi-toyoki (pop: 21,200)	II: Very weak	Kurume Shi, Fukuoka	Japan
60 km (38 mi) NE of epicenter	Hiji (pop: 27,900)	II: Very weak	Hayami-gun, Oita	Japan
62 km (39 mi) W of epicenter	Omuta (pop: 132,000)	II: Very weak	Omuta Shi, Fukuoka	Japan
63 km (39 mi) NE of epicenter	Tsurusaki (pop: 77,000)	II: Very weak	Oita-shi, Oita	Japan
64 km (40 mi) W of epicenter	Setakamachi-takayanagi (pop: 24,000)	II: Very weak	Miyama Shi, Fukuoka	Japan
66 km (41 mi) SE of epicenter	Nobeoka (pop: 121,900)	II: Very weak	Miyazaki	Japan
67 km (41 mi) NW of epicenter	Amagi (pop: 42,300)	II: Very weak	Asakura Shi, Fukuoka	Japan
67 km (42 mi) E of epicenter	Usuki (pop: 35,000)	II: Very weak	Oita	Japan
68 km (42 mi) NW of epicenter	Tachiarai (pop: 15,600)	II: Very weak	Asakura Shi, Fukuoka	Japan
68 km (42 mi) NW of epicenter	Kurume (pop: 238,200)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
69 km (43 mi) SW of epicenter	Honmachi (pop: 104,300)	II: Very weak	Yatsushiro Shi, Kumamoto	Japan
70 km (43 mi) NE of epicenter	Kitsuki (pop: 23,400)	II: Very weak	Oita	Japan
70 km (44 mi) W of epicenter	Yanagawa (pop: 40,400)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
72 km (45 mi) NW of epicenter	Tosu (pop: 63,600)	II: Very weak	Saga	Japan
72 km (45 mi) N of epicenter	Nakatsu (pop: 67,400)	II: Very weak	Oita	Japan
72 km (45 mi) W of epicenter	Shimabara (pop: 38,100)	II: Very weak	Nagasaki	Japan
74 km (46 mi) E of epicenter	Saiki (pop: 49,100)	II: Very weak	Oita	Japan
74 km (46 mi) W of epicenter	Ōkawa (pop: 39,200)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
81 km (50 mi) N of epicenter	Tagawa (pop: 51,600)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
82 km (51 mi) W of epicenter	Sagashi (pop: 165,200)	II: Very weak	sagashi, Saga	Japan
82 km (51 mi) NW of epicenter	Chikushino-shi (pop: 100,400)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
83 km (51 mi) NW of epicenter	Dazaifu (pop: 70,600)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
85 km (53 mi) NW of epicenter	Iizuka (pop: 78,200)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
87 km (54 mi) N of epicenter	Yukuhashi (pop: 71,300)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
87 km (54 mi) NW of epicenter	Ōnojō (pop: 95,000)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
96 km (60 mi) NW of epicenter	Fukuoka (pop: 1,392,300)	II: Very weak	Fukuoka	Japan
844 km (525 mi) NE of epicenter	Tokyo (pop: 8,336,600)	: Not felt	Tokyo	Japan
7200 km (4474 mi) NW of epicenter	Āstārā (pop: 39,100)	: Not felt	Gilan	Iran

Notes:
(*) Shaking intensity according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) and estimated using seismic models.

User-reports for this quake (1)

We received 1 report for this quake from

Japan.
It came from near Tokyo, the capital of

Japan with 8,300,000 inhabitants in 844 km (525 mi) distance northeast of the epicenter.

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

Contribute:
Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it.
Flag as inappropriate.
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Send your own user report!

Translate

Cosmos Uchinomaki (844.2 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Heard a loud thud, felt vibrations followed by weak shaking in store.

List of cities/places with most reports

Place	Distance from epicenter	Average reported Shaking Intensity	Nr. of reports
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (Pop.: 8,336,599)	844 km (525 mi) NE of epicenter	III: Weak shaking	1

Note: Only reports with latitude/longitude coordinate positions given (1 in total) could be used for statistics.

What is Intensity and the Mercalli Intensity Scale?

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.
Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.
Read more about the MMI scale!

Compare Quake Data

Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies

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	Time GMT 2024-04-26	Epicenter	Agency
3.8	8.4 km 5.2 mi	01:29:19	Japan: NE KUMAMOTO PREF	NIED (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience)
3.7	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	01:29:30	Kyushu, Japan 5 km (3.1 mi) epicenter difference with NIED	EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)

Notes:
(*) A depth given as 10 km often means that the the depth of the quake could not determined with sufficient accuracy.

Seismograms

Seismic station: Oita Nakatsue (JNU/JP network) | Distance from quake: 29 km / 18 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Oita Nakatsue: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.5-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Earthquake statistics

Average number of earthquakes

Based on data from the past 14 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 102 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

Mag. 6 or higher: 0.07 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 13.9 years)
Mag. 5 or higher: 1.67 quakes per year
Mag. 4 or higher: 12.8 quakes per year
Mag. 3 or higher: 47 quakes per year (or 4 quakes per month)
Mag. 2 or higher: 109 quakes per year (or 9.1 quakes per month)
Mag. 1 or higher: 249 quakes per year (or 20.7 quakes per month)

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 9 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 10 to 15 years.

Number of quakes per year

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

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