Saturday, Dec 20, 2025 13:13 | 8 hours ago | By: EarthquakeMonitor
An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 occurred late at night on Saturday, December 20th, 2025, at 10:58 pm local time near Nemuro, Nemuro-shi, Hokkaido, Japan, as reported by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a moderately shallow depth of 45. km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, which listed it as a magnitude 5.4 earthquake as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include France’s Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RéNaSS) at magnitude 5.3, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 5.4.
Generally quakes of this magnitude are recorded by more than one agency and the results can vary, with subsequent reports that come in after the first one often showing more accuracy.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Nemuro (pop. 31,200) located 68 km from the epicenter, Hamanaka-sakuraminami (pop. 5,500) 84 km away, Akkeshi (pop. 8,900) 98 km away, Nakashibetsu (pop. 24,000) 118 km away, and Shibetsu (pop. 21,700) 119 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
If you felt it, report it through our site or app right now!
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic alerts online:
Android | IOS
Earthquake data:
I felt this quake
Date & time: Dec 20, 2025 09:58 pm (GMT +9) local time (20 Dec 2025 12:58 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.4
Depth: 45.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 42.74°N / 145.97°E 
(Hokkaido, Japan)
Primary data source: EMSC
AloJapan.com