Ring of Fire subduction of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of 4 to 6 are not uncommon. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing some slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes occur infrequently; the most famous in the 20th century were: the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died; and the Great Hanshin earthquake of 17 January 1995, in which 6,434 people died. On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit Japan, the country's biggest ever and the fifth
2011 Lorca earthquake 10.000 years. Other scientific research has suggested that the earthquake was caused by human activity. A team led by Dr Pablo Gonzalez of the University of Western Ontario in Canada reported in the journal Nature Geoscience in October 2012 that the pattern of earth movement was consistent with changes in stresses caused by the removal of water from underground reservoirs. 2011 Lorca earthquake The 2011 Lorca earthquake () was a moderate 5.1 earthquake that occurred 6:47 p.m. CEST (16:47 UTC) on 11 May 2011, near the town of Lorca, causing significant localized damage in the Region of Murcia, Spain, and