M5.3 earthquake near Uto, Kumamoto

What happened

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 5 km ENE of Uto, Japan on 15 Apr 2016, 16:44 UTC at a depth of 10 km.

Earthquakes of this size are classed as Moderate. Can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. This was a shallow earthquake, which tends to be felt more strongly at the surface.

The nearest town in our records is Uto, about 6 km away in Kumamoto, Japan.