Earthquake in Mindanao, the Philippine Islands on December 2



On December 2, 2023 at 23:37 (JST, hereinafter the same time), there was an Mw7.5 (Mw is moment magnitude determined by JMA) earthquake at a depth of 33 km in Mindanao, the Philippine Islands. The focal mechanism (CMT solution by JMA) showed a reverse fault type with a compression axis in an E-W direction. This event occurred at the boundary between the Philippine Sea and the Eurasia plates.
JMA issued Tsunami Advisory on 2nd at 23:56 for the Pacific coasts from Chiba to Kagoshima Prefectures, the Izu Islands, the Ogasawara Islands, and the Miyakojima-Yaejima Islands, and on 3rd at 03:19 for the Amami-Tokara Islands (lifted on 3rd at 09:00). Also, JMA announced an information on a distant earthquake on 2nd at 23:58, on 3rd at 00:15 and 02:03, and an information on tsunami in Northwestern Pacific on 3rd at 00:01, 00:25, 02:13, 04:23, and 05:55.
This event caused tsunami observed along the Pacific coasts from Chiba to Okinawa Prefectures, the Izu Islands, and Chichijima Island, such as 0.4 m (preliminary value) at Yaene, Hachijojima Island.
Also on abroad, this event caused damage with 3 fatalities and 48 injured persons in Philippines (as of December 6, 2023).
For the seismic activity since 1980, in the vicinity of the recent event (Area b), there have sometimes been earthquakes of M7.0 or over. On August 31, 2012, there was an Mw7.6 earthquake which caused tsunami observed, in Japan, along the Pacific coasts from Miyagi Prefecture to Kyushu region, Okinawa Prefecture, the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands, such as 0.5 m at Yaene, Hachijojima Island, and overseas, 0.09m at Davao, the Philippines.


Japan Meteorological Agency
[Evaluation of Seismic Activities for November 2023 (December 11, 2023)]