16 August 2005, Mw 7.2, Near East Coast of Honshu, Japan

An earthquake measuring 7.2 Mw (HRV) occured east of the Japanese Island of Honshu on 16 August 2005 at 2:46 UTC (Figure 1). The location of the earthquake was calculated to be 38.2º N and 142.1º E, with a depth of 37km. At least 39 people were injured in Miyagi, nine in Iwate, five in Fukushima and three Saitama Prefec-tures. One building was destroyed at Kazo and one damaged at Sendai. Power outages and landslides oc-curred in various locations in northern Japan. A local tsunami was generated with a wave height of 10 cm on the coast of northern Japan (Figures 2,3 and Table next page). Wave heights were recorded at several tide stations along the coast of Honshu, with the largest wave height of 13 cm recorded at Ayukawa in Miyagi Prefecture.