A shallow magnitude 5.0 earthquake was reported early morning near Miyazaki, Japan.According to Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), the quake hit on Thursday, February 26th, 2026, at 2:17 am local time at a shallow depth of 25.60 km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. 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.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 Miyazaki (pop. 401,300) located 76 km from the epicenter, Nichinan (pop. 51,200) 76 km away, Shintomi (pop. 16,600) 77 km away, Takanabe (pop. 20,200) 81 km away, Saito (pop. 29,300) 85 km away, Tsuma (pop. 34,300) 86 km away, Kushima (pop. 22,100) 90 km away, and Hyuga (pop. 60,000) 96 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.Earthquake data: Date & time: Feb 26, 2026 02:17 am (GMT +9) local time (25 Feb 2026 17:17 GMT)Magnitude: 5.0Depth: 25.60 kmEpicenter latitude / longitude: 31.68°N / 132.17°E (Miyazaki, Japan)Primary data source: NIED