Earthquake in the Southern Inland, Akita Prefecture on March 11

On March 11, 2020 at 13:04 (JST), there was an M4.4 earthquake (maximum seismic intensity 4) at a depth of 12 km in the southern inland, Akita prefecture. This event occurred within the crust. The focal mechanism showed a reverse fault type with a compression axis in an E-W direction.
For the seismic activity since October 1997, in the vicinity of the recent event (Area a), there were earthquakes of M3.0 or so, such as an M3.3 (maximum seismic intensity 1) on December 28, 1999 and an M3.1 (maximum seismic intensity 1) on December 29, 2014, but there was no earthquake of M4.0 or over.

For the seismic activity since January 1885, in the area around the recent event (Area b), on August 31, 1896, there occurred the Rikuu Earthquake (M7.2) which caused damage with 209 fatalities, 779 injured persons, 5,792 totally-collapsed houses and so on. Also on March 15, 1914, there occurred the Akita Senboku Earthquake (M7.1, also called as Kowakubi E arthquake), which caused damage with 94 fatalities, 324 injured persons, 640 totally-collapsed houses and so on (damage: Materials for Comprehensive List of Destructive Earthquakes in Japan).

Japan Meteorological Agency
[Evaluation of Seismic Activities for March 2020 (April 10, 2020)]