M5.3 earthquake near Honmachi, Kumamoto

What happened

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 6 km NNE of Honmachi, Japan on 19 Apr 2016, 08:52 UTC at a depth of 5 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 Honmachi, about 6 km away in Kumamoto, Japan.