Great Hanshin earthquake were from Kobe. Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million, was the closest to the epicenter and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japan's worst earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed more than 105,000 lives. Most of the largest earthquakes in Japan are caused by subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate or Pacific Plate, with mechanisms that involve either energy released within the subducting plate or the accumulation and sudden release of stress in the overlying plate. Earthquakes of these types are especially frequent in the coastal regions
2011 Virginia earthquake 2011 Virginia earthquake On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Virginia at 1:51:04 p.m. local time. The epicenter, in Louisa County, was northwest of Richmond and south-southwest of the town of Mineral. It was an intraplate earthquake with a maximum perceived intensity of VII ("Very strong") on the Mercalli intensity scale. Several aftershocks, ranging up to 4.5 in magnitude, occurred after the main tremor. The quake was felt across more than a dozen U.S. states and in several Canadian provinces, and was felt by more people than any other quake