M5.0 earthquake 16 km NNW of Amami, Kagoshima, Japan
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 16 km NNW of Amami, Kagoshima, Japan at 16:28 local time (07:28 UTC) on 20 Sept 2026, at a depth of 60 km, according to JMA and USGS. The solution is preliminary and may be revised.
Reported by 2 agencies · 1 reports to USGS “Did You Feel It?”
Data: JMA, USGS · updated 2026-09-20 07:53 UTC · automatic solution
- Magnitude
- 5.0moderate
JMA magnitude (Mj) - Depth
- 60 km
- Status
- Automatic
- Origin time
- 2026-09-20 07:28:00 UTC
- Local: 20 Sept 2026, 16:28:00 (Asia/Tokyo)
- Epicentre
- 28.500° N, 129.400° E
Circles show this event and others within 40 km from 7 days before to 30 days after. Lines: plate boundaries and GEM active faults. Open on the live map
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Est. shaking |
|---|---|---|
| AmamiKagoshima, Japan · pop. 41,390 | 16 km | IIIWeak |
| NazeKagoshima, Japan · pop. 41,365 | 16 km | IIIWeak |
| NahaOkinawa, Japan · pop. 317,625 | 306 km | INot felt |
| KagoshimaJapan · pop. 595,049 | 359 km | INot felt |
Shaking is an estimate from the intensity prediction equation of Allen, Wald & Worden (2012), not an observation. Local ground and buildings can change it by a level or more. Likely felt out to about 113 km.
Every agency's solution
Agencies locate earthquakes with their own stations and methods, so their numbers differ. We match reports of the same event by time, distance and magnitude and show them side by side. The headline uses JMA.
How big was it?
Felt by most people over a wide area. Can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre.
It released roughly the energy of 477 t of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step means about 32 times more energy and 10 times larger waves on a seismogram. Depth matters too: at 60 km this was a shallow earthquake, which is felt more strongly at the surface than a deeper one of the same size.
M5.0 releases about 32× the energy of M4.0, and its waves are about 10× taller on a seismogram. Energy: 477 t of TNT vs 15 t of TNT.
Each square is the energy of one M4.0. Energy from log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8.
Aftershocks and nearby activity
No later earthquakes have been recorded within 40 km so far. Aftershock rates usually fall off roughly in proportion to 1/time.
Did you feel it?
Reports from people help show where shaking was strong. They are anonymous and shown here in aggregate.
Event id jma20260920162833. First recorded here 28 Sept 2026, 17:32:06 UTC. Solutions: JMA (jma:20260920162833); USGS (usgs:us7000tipl). Cite as: SeismoAtlas, “M5.0 earthquake 16 km NNW of Amami, Kagoshima, Japan”, https://seismoatlas.com/earthquake/jma20260920162833-m5-0-earthquake-16-km-nnw-of-amami-kagoshima-japan, data from JMA, USGS.
JSON: /api/v1/events/jma20260920162833. SeismoAtlas is not an official warning service.