Notes on Each Column of the Table
1. Symbols (SQ)
Some earthquakes are prefixed by ?, +, -, or *.
? indicates an earthquake that is likely to be the same one as that which is placed separately due to clerical mistake, and one whose existence is doubtful. That is, earthquakes that most likely did not exist are prefixed by ?, as long as they are apparent mistakes. As for Japanese earthquakes, the ones prefixed by ? are those contained in "Newly Collected Historical Materials of Japanese Earthquakes." Those prefixed by * indicate the uncertainty of existence.
There are many earthquakes prefixed by ? that should not have been placed in the table, but it is not a good idea to eliminate all of them. When new catalog B is made with reference to catalog A, it may be that an earthquake placed in catalog A cannot be found in catalog B, even though it should have been placed in catalog B. It is not clear whether this is because B was not selected for some reason or because it was omitted due to carelessness.
In this case, how much attention was paid when catalog B was compiled considering whether the data should be prefixed by ? or without ? is questionable. It is generally better to ignore earthquakes prefixed by ? although ? indicates various kinds and various degrees. On the other hand, it is evident that materials are not always correct even though they are not prefixed by ?. I included earthquakes with wrong information to prevent the assumption that they were omitted due to insufficient research.
+ indicates an earthquake that is the same as that indicated in the line before or the line after, but that was placed in a new line for some reason. This table is edited on a 'one earthquake for one line principle', and information is removed regardless of importance if sufficient space is unavailable. However, an additional line was given to enable the search for destructive earthquakes in Japan in some cases, such as the earthquake in South America that caused damage to Japan due to big tidal waves.
- indicates earthquakes whose magnitude is below 7.5 in each surface wave magnitude (Ms) in Abe (1981), Abe and Noguchi (1983a, b), body wave magnitude (mB) and moment magnitude (Mw), a system in use since 1977 that is obtained by converting the magnitude of the Centroid Moment Tenser value calculated by a group of Harvard University researchers. However, they have a magnitude of M7.5 in WDC-A catalog, and damage resulting from them is not reported in any reference. Non-destructive earthquakes with a magnitude of less than 7.5 should not be placed in the table, but they are placed because the WDC-A catalog adopted an overestimated M.
2. References (REF)
Alphabetical letters in the reference column indicate the kind of reference. One or four letters is used from A, C, E. G, I, J, K, M, N, P, R, S, T, U and V. In principle, however, C, J and U are used independently. C, J and U indicate references from China, Japan, and the Unites States, respectively, to prevent them from being combined with references from other countries. If an earthquake has more than five references, only the major four references are placed. It does not necessarily mean that an earthquake has a multiple number of independent references because many materials come from the same reference.
The selection criteria of earthquakes vary with the references. Some earthquakes are selected despite not meeting the criteria of certain other reference criteria. In this case, these reference symbols can be put in the reference column since the reference contents, for example, the location of the epicenter and M, are adapted (or consulted). I consulted references in the reference column because they include earthquakes in question. However, it may be the case that articles on the reference in question were not used, and the other columns of the table include materials from other references. As for J (Japanese earthquakes), the fourth row contains a letter from a to m to specify the area. Please refer to Table 1.
Table 1 Location Symbols of Earthquakes in Japan (not the area damaged but the area of the epicenter)
a The Pacific coast and offshore of Hokkaido (including the southern part of the Kuril Islands) b Hokkaido and offshore in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk c The Pacific coast and offshore of Tohoku district d Tohoku district and offshore in the Sea of Japan e Kanto district and offshore, and the area from Yamanashi Prefecture to the vicinity of Izu Island via the Izu Peninsular f Shin-Etsu district and offshore in the Sea of Japan g The area covering Tokai district and Hokuriku district, and offshore in the Sea of Japan h Offshore of the area from Tokai district to Nankai district i Kinki district and offshore in the Sea of Japan j Chugoku district and Shikoku district, and offshore of Chugoku district in the Sea of Japan k The area from the eastern offshore of Kyushu to north of Amami Ohshima Island l The area covering Kyushu and north and west offshore m The vicinity of the Ryukyu Islands s Tidal waves caused by earthquakes that occurred in remote areas
A: Ambraseys(1962ab, 1968, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1995), Ambraseys et al (1982, 1983, 1986ab, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001) and research papers of which Ambraseys was one of the writers
Ambraseys et al have been conducting research on historical earthquakes that occurred in worldwide including the Middle East. Ambraseys and Finkel (1995) is considered a very important reference on Turkish earthquakes, but I have not read it yet. (It is difficult to obtain a copy.)
C:Ko et al (1983, 1984), Sha et al (1983-1987), Others, Japanese and Chinese references on Chinese earthquakes
Ko et al (1983) tabulated 3,583 earthquakes. It originally tabulated 3,188 earthquakes, added 46 and deleted 7, and as an appendix (unconvincing or insufficient references) it added 353, added 11 and deleted 8 resulting in a total of 3,583 earthquakes. It carries the location of the epicenter, seismic intensity at the epicenter, and estimated magnitude. Excluding the non-numbered earthquakes in 1831 B.C., all the 590 earthquakes by 1900 were destructive earthquakes, and they are all tabulated.
Many references include earthquakes of more than 4M and those that occur in the sea in the 20th century, and many earthquakes that did not cause damage are also included. However, the table of this file only tabulates earthquakes that cause a certain amount of damage (those with a seismic intensity of more than 7 or with articles on casualties). L used for earthquakes after 1900 indicates Chinese central time, which is virtually Beijing time. Ko et al (1984) is the sequel that contains earthquakes up to 1979. Sha et al(1983-1987) is a voluminous work of nearly 5,000 pages, and this includes histories of non-destructive earthquakes. As for earthquakes before 1901, it tabulates only historical material and does not tabulate location of the epicenter, etc. I included several destructive earthquakes that are not placed in Ko et al (1983) from this reference.
"Chronological Table of Major Chinese Earthquakes" in the versions of the "Chronological Scientific Tables" between 1976 and 1980 is mainly based on the results of long-term research by Mitsuo Keimatsu. Although it was helpful, I did not use much information including magnitude values from this reference.
Both "Chinese National Authorities for Earthquake Damage Prevention" (1995) and Ro(1996) are mostly based on Ko et al (1983, 1984). There are several destructive earthquakes that are not mentioned in these references, many of which occurred in outlying regions, such as Xizang and Xinjiang. Besides these references, I used several Chinese references.
Western references including Milne (1911) tabulate many destructive Chinese earthquakes that are not included in Chinese references, or are included but with no record of damage. I did not include these destructive earthquakes. Since the WDC-A catalog has a policy of including all earthquakes, they are placed in the table of this file. Chinese earthquakes that are not found in Chinese materials are classified as G, and most of them are prefixed by ?.
E: Sieberg (1932)
"Erdbebengeographie" by Sieberg tabulates major earthquakes up to 1930, dividing the world into more than 100 areas. I adopted earthquakes that (1) caused fatalities, (2) included the word Zerstorung (destruction) (for example, zerstorendes Erdbeben, excluding earthquakes with adjectives such as "light"), (3) carried the word Schaden (damage) used with adjectives such as "serious" (for example, schweres Schadenbeben and kraftigen Gebaudenshaden), and (4) carried articles on tidal waves. I also used Sieberg (1930) as a reference.
G:Catalogs published by WDC-A that include Ganse and Nelson (1981, 1982), Raid and Myers (1985), WGDC/WDC-A (1989), Dunbar and others (1992) and NEIC/WDC-A (website, as of spring in 2001).
Ganse and Nelson (1981; 1982) is a catalog that has collected data from 159 kinds of material, and tabulated earthquakes causing damage of more than 1 million dollars at the value in 1979, more than 10 fatalities or having a magnitude of higher than 7.5 (earthquakes with a seismic intensity of more than 10 for those that are not given a magnitude). However, it also tabulates several earthquakes smaller than these, most of which occurred in the United States. Damage is calculated in physical damage of the value when the earthquake occurred in the unit of one U.S. million dollars, and those not giving the damage caused are divided into five categories by guessing the amount of damage. The five categories are insignificant, limited (less than US$1 million), moderate (between $1 million and $5 million), severe (between $5 million and $25 million) and extreme (more than $25 million). If sufficient information for estimation is not available, limited means slight, minor and light and severe means major, extensive and heavy, and extreme is equivalent to catastrophic. In the references in G, however, there are a number of earthquakes that have no information in the damage column despite considerable damage caused. This catalog contains about 2,400 earthquakes, but there are many doubtful figures and doubtful locations. It is unknown whether these come from the original materials, or are the result of misunderstanding or misentry in editing.
Raid and Meyers (1985) is a catalog on earthquakes in the Middle East, using the same format as Ganse and Nelson (1981; 1982).
WGDC/WDC-A (1989) is an increased and revised edition of Ganse and Nelson (1981) (sold as a magnetic tape). Dunbar, et al (1992) is an increased and revised edition of WGDC/WDC-A and uses the same criteria as Ganse and Nelson (1981), and tabulates about 4,000 earthquakes with many improvements on doubtful issues. Significant Earthquakes World Wide (NOAA), which can be seen on the NEIC/WDC-A website, places day and time, latitude and longitude of the epicenter, magnitude, maximum seismic intensity and tidal waves on a 'one earthquake for one line' basis, but earthquake location is not mentioned.
The table of this file contains all earthquakes in the above catalogs. However, the earthquakes tabulated here with symbol C, J, or U are not accompanied by information from the above catalogs, and symbol G is not attached.
References in Section G include all earthquakes of a magnitude higher than 7.5 whether or not they caused damage. However, these references tend to overestimate magnitude, and they include a number of non-destructive earthquakes of a magnitude lower than 7.5. Earthquakes with a clearly overestimated magnitude have remarks notifying overestimation. In Dunbar et al (1992), about 70 Italian earthquakes between 1853 and 1963 are recorded to have a seismic intensity of 12.
An earthquake with a seismic intensity of 12 necessarily causes considerable damage, but none of the 70 earthquakes is tabulated in any earthquake catalogs worldwide including Italian catalogs (to be mentioned in next section). There is a mistake with the seismic intensity figures given for these earthquakes. I have a policy of including all earthquakes placed in the References of Section G, but I have decided against including these Italian earthquakes beginning in the 2001 edition of the table of this file.
I: Postpischl (1985), Boschi et al (2000), and other Italian references on Italian earthquakes
The catalog edited by Postpischl tabulates Italian earthquakes between 1000 and 1980 with digital data such as date of occurrence, location of the epicenter and magnitude, but no articles on damage are attached. This catalog tends to set the magnitude lower than the real value. Descriptions of damage are placed in the distribution map of seismic intensity of Italian earthquakes edited by Postpischl. My table includes earthquakes with a maximum seismic intensity of 9 (including between 8 and 9) from the Postpischl catalog. Earthquakes with a seismic intensity between 7 and 8 must have caused damage, but the number of earthquakes in the table will be enormous should they be included. Even if an earthquake did not cause damage, it may have had a seismic intensity of more than 7 if a certain formula is used for estimation using the intensity of various areas. If I include earthquakes that are proved by other material as having caused considerable damage, data such as time of occurrence and location of the epicenter are adapted from the catalog. As mentioned below, however, the earthquake data referred to in Boschi et al (2000) is included. Carrozzo (1972) is used as reference only for earthquakes before 1999.
The latest edition of the catalog of Italian historical earthquakes that was edited by Boschi et al (1995; 1997) is published by Ann. Geofis. on CD-ROM (Boschi and others, 2000). Related research papers are published in Ann. Geofis.; however, a specially developed software program is necessary to view the contents of the catalog. In addition, the article is written in Italian, which makes it difficult to use as a reference. However, based on this CD-ROM, I revised data on earthquakes with a maximum seismic intensity of 9 (including between 8 and 9) and those included from other catalogs. Those already adopted in the table of this file but not included in this catalog are numerous and are left unchanged. It is unknown whether they are not placed in the CD-ROM because they did not cause damage or because there was few historical data.
J: Usami (1987, 1996) and other Japanese references on Japanese earthquakes
Initially, the table of this file was based mainly on Usami (1987), but Usami (1996) was used to upgrade it. I also referred to "Dainippon Jishin Shiryo (Historical Materials of Japanese Earthquakes)," "Nippon Jishin Shiryo (Historical Materials of Japanese Earthquakes)," "Shinshu Nippon Jishin Shiryo (Newly Collected Historical Materials of Japanese Earthquakes)" and materials published by the Japan Meteorological Agency, such as the Meteorology Directory and 'Earthquake Monthly'.
The locations of epicenters and magnitude values of historical earthquakes are from Usami (1996). I included the median in the M column if an earthquake is given a range of magnitude. I also included the medians if an earthquake is given a range of latitude and longitude of the epicenter. No fractional numbers can be used in the table for the purpose of data processing and printing, and I used 34.3 instead of 341/2 for latitude, 6.8 instead of 63/4 and 5.5 instead of 51/2 for magnitude. A small number of earthquakes have an epicenter location that is slightly different from the location adopted in Usami (1996).
K: Kondorskaya and Shebalin (1982)
I included earthquakes with a seismic intensity at the epicenter of more than 8 (including between 7 and 8) and those with articles on damage from this catalog published in the Soviet Union. Seismic intensity in this catalog is the estimated value calculated using the intensity in an isoseismal map or the intensity near the epicenter.
Generally, an earthquake with a seismic intensity of more than 8 necessarily causes damage, but many of the earthquakes in this catalog are not proved to have caused damage. Earthquakes before modern times have simple damage reports, but those in modern times are not accompanied by damage reports. In addition to earthquakes with epicenters in the Soviet Union, this catalog includes earthquakes that occurred in neighboring countries including Romania, Iran and Japan, and caused damage to the Soviet Union.
M: Alsinawi et al (1975, 1985a, 1985b), Berberian (1994), Ben-Menahem (1979), Eiby (1968ab, 1973), Poirie et al (1980ab), Robson (1964), Rothe (1969), references both at home and abroad on earthquakes worldwide
Besides the references listed in these publications based on research papers and monographs that cover one or several earthquakes, I included earthquakes that satisfy the selection criteria of the table and information on the earthquakes already tabulated.
N: Ceresis (Centro Regional de Seismologia para America del Sur) (1985)
Published in 1985, this is a 14-volume catalog on earthquakes in South America. Volumes 2-9 contain earthquake catalogs of each country, and volume 11 is historical material for major earthquakes between 1530 and 1894. From the volumes covering the earthquake catalogs of each country, I included earthquakes with a seismic intensity of more than 9 even if they are not accompanied by fatality reports, and those with a seismic intensity of more than 7 if they are accompanied by casualty reports (with c in the 'casualties' column).
P: Papazachos and Comninakis (1982), Comninakis and Papazachos (1982), Papazachos et al (1982), Catalogs of earthquakes and tidal waves that occurred in Greece and neighboring areas including Papazachos et al (1997).
There are books written in Greece on Greek earthquakes including Papazachos and Papazachos, (1989), but I have not read them.
R: Milne (1911), Chronological Scientific Tables (1961, 974), and others
Milne (1911) is a catalog that tabulates more than 5,000 destructive earthquakes worldwide between A.D. 7 and the end of 1899, and classifies damage into three classes, I to III, depending on the degree of damage. I included earthquakes in Classes II and III for the table of this file. There are some earthquakes included from Class I, because other references specify that they satisfy the selection criteria of the table. Many Japanese and Chinese earthquakes are classified into II or III, though they are not accompanied by damage reports in the catalogs of their home countries. As mentioned earlier, I have not included these earthquakes.
I Cracked walls, broken chimneys, destruction of old buildings and small ground fissures
II Roofs coming off, destruction and collapse of buildings, ground fissures and small landslides
III Destruction of cities and devastated areas, faults and ground fissures causing outbursts of water, mud and sand
The "Chronological Scientific Tables" included the first part of the "Table of Major Earthquakes in the World" in its 1929 to 1962 editions . This table lists 587 earthquakes from A.D. 17 to 1899, using extracted data of damage Class III from the table of Milne (1911). The latter part covering after 1900 contains material that cannot be found in other references. In the 1974 edition, the "Chronological Scientific Tables" contains major earthquakes worldwide between 1900 and 1972. As for earthquakes adopted from other references, I also refer to the materials of this publication and the table of earthquakes worldwide carried in every edition from 1975 to 1986.
Mallet (1850-1853) is a catalog that contains a table of several thousand earthquakes between 1606 B.C. and 1842. (Although the title reads earthquakes before 1850, it does not contain earthquakes that occurred in the 8-year period after 1943 because a catalog by M. Perry was published that included this information.) I did not use Mallet's catalog because Milne (1911) reprinted information of many earthquakes from Mallet's catalog. However, I found several destructive earthquakes contained in Mallet's catalog but were not listed in Milne's catalog for reasons unknown.
S: SEAN Bulletin (1980-1988), United States Earthquakes (1943-1977), Significant Earthquakes of the World (1980-2001), BSSA (1911-1994)/SRL (1995-2001)
The 'Scientific Event Alert Network (SEAN) Bulletin' is a monthly publication that carries flash news of destructive earthquakes worldwide in its earthquake section. United States Earthquakes is an annual government publication, and earthquakes contained in this publication are mostly those occurring in the United States. It also includes information on epicenters of the world, designated by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS), the National Oceanic & Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as well as articles on major earthquakes. "Significant Earthquakes of the World" arranges annually earthquakes of a magnitude of 6.5 and those that cause damage among those covered by the Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE). Earthquakes covered by this publication after 1980 can be browsed on the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) website. Every issue of the "Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America" (BSSA) carries articles on major earthquakes worldwide in its Seismological Notes column. This column has many features in common with Unites States Earthquakes and Significant Earthquakes because they share the same information source. Seismological Research Letters (SRL) has carried the articles since 1995, replacing BSSA.
T: WDC-A (1992) is a catalog published in 1992 that contains information on tidal waves worldwide between 2000 B.C. and 1900. It is available in two floppy diskettes.
U: Coffman, von Hake and Stover (1982)
History of American Earthquakes, edited by Coffman et al
The first edition was published in 1928. Dividing the U.S. into nine areas, it contains tables listing significant earthquakes (with a seismic intensity of more than 5) and articles on major earthquakes. I included American earthquakes with a seismic intensity of more than 7 because even earthquakes with a minimum seismic intensity of 7 cause damage in the U.S. and are often quoted in seismology studies.
V: Karnik (1969, 1971)
Karnik (1969) contains catalogs of earthquakes, two thirds of which are those that occurred in Europe between 1901 and 1995 with a maximum seismic intensity of 6 or of a magnitude higher than 4.5. No damage reports are attached. Karnik (1971) is a catalog of earthquakes in Europe with a seismic intensity of 7 that covers the estimated locations of the epicenters and damage reports. The table of this file includes earthquakes with a seismic intensity of 9 (including between 8 and 9) at the epicenter, and leaves the damage column blank for earthquakes that occurred after 1901 when materials on them from other references cannot be found.
3. Year, month, day and time of occurrence (YR, MD, HM, UL)
The Julian calendar is assumed for earthquakes before 1582 and the Gregorian calendar for earthquakes thereafter. This rule, however, is not perfectly observed, and some references mix up these two calendars. For example, Milne (1911) tabulates Japanese earthquakes before 1582 using the Julian calendar, but I found some earthquakes recorded using the Gregorian calendar. Other references tabulate two earthquakes occurring in the same place with an interval of a few days with the first one using the Julian calendar, and the other corresponding to the same date in the Gregorian calendar. Some countries use the Julian calendar even after 1582; therefore, some earthquakes may be recorded using the Gregorian calendar. It is common for Japanese earthquakes before 1582 to be recorded using the Gregorian calendar, but I rewrote the dates of occurrence using the Julian calendar for the table of this file. Accordingly, there is a difference of 1-10 days between the dates in the "Chronological Scientific Tables" and those in this file.
Table 2 Number of days to add to the Julian calendar to change it to the Gregorian calendar
Feb. 29, 300 - Feb. 28, 500 in the Julian calendar 1 days Feb. 29, 500 - Feb. 28, 600 in the Julian calendar 2days Feb. 29, 600 - Feb. 28, 700 in the Julian calendar 3days Feb. 29, 700 - Feb. 28, 900 in the Julian calendar 4days Feb. 29, 900 - Feb. 28, 1000 in the Julian calendar 5days Feb. 29, 1000 - Feb. 28, 1100 in the Julian calendar 6days Feb. 29, 1100 - Feb. 28, 1300 in the Julian calendar 7days Feb. 29, 1300 - Feb. 28, 1400 in the Julian calendar 8days Feb. 29, 1400 - Feb. 28, 1500 in the Julian calendar 9days Feb. 29, 1500 - Feb. 28, 1700 in the Julian calendar 10days
U indicates universal time, and L means local time. The data on only month and day are presumably in local time, even in the catalogs, including the WDC-A catalog, that have adopted universal time and give only dates. The table of this file arranges earthquakes in order of time of occurrence, regardless of universal time and local time. When two earthquakes occurred within a few hours of each other, in universal time and in local time, they may not be arranged in order of time of occurrence.
The WDC-A catalog sets unidentified hours and minutes as 0000. Thus, it is impossible to tell the difference between an earthquake whose time is unidentified with an occurrence record of 0000 and an earthquake that really occurred at 0:00 (and earthquakes that are reported to have occurred around midnight in ancient times). The WDC-A catalog classifies earthquakes with 0000 as those with the hour and minute of occurrence unknown. In the table of this file, I used 0 for an earthquake that occurred at unidentified hour and minute, whereas -0 and 01, respectively, represent the hour and minute of earthquakes that really occurred at 0:00 (including Japanese and Chinese historical earthquakes that occurred at midnight). It is therefore necessary to rewrite the program, changing -0 hour 01 minute to 0 00 for displaying and printing.
The dates of more than 30 historical earthquakes in Muslim countries, such as Iran, Iraq and Syria were Anno Domini that virtually correspond to New Year's Day in the long established Islamic calendar, Hegira (Hejira, Hijra; A.H. is commonly used, but the table of this file uses H.) It is unlikely that many major earthquakes occurred on New Year's Day. Therefore, all dates of occurrence in an identified year of Hegira were presumably given as New Year's Day Anno Domini.
The same is true of the Sieberg catalog. I placed the dates of occurrence of such earthquakes without modification, and indicate points of interest in the remarks column. For example, for the Iraq Earthquake of May 11, 1149 tabulated in Ganse and Nelson and corresponding to New Year's Day of 544H (May 11, 1149 - Apr. 29, 1150), I append a note saying, "New Year's Day in 544H" in the remarks column. Other material indicates that an earthquake hit Iraq in April in 1150, so "Apr. 1150?" is written since this earthquake may be the same as the one mentioned above. In addition, several earthquakes occurred on the day recorded Anno Domini that falls on the first day of the month in the Islamic calendar. For example, the Iran Earthquake of Dec. 3, 856 falls on Aug. 1 in 242H, and may be the same earthquake that recorded separately as occurring on Aug. 13.
In most records, the Hegira year stretches two years Anno Domini. For earthquakes with dates of occurrence known only in the year of H, I consistently placed the first of the two years Anno Domini for record.
For Chinese earthquakes with dates of occurrence only in the lunar calendar, I put a month Anno Domini containing the first day of that lunar calendar's month in the column for 'month', while putting the month Anno Domini corresponding to the lunar calendar in the remarks column. For example, the earthquake in Jiangsu Guichi in December of the 13th year of Jiajing of Ming has the date of occurrence between Jan. 4 and Feb. 1 in 1535, and I put 1535 1- in the table with Jan.-Feb in the remarks column. Ko, et al. (1983) also puts 1535.1- in this case. Guichi is presently located in Anhui Province, not in Jiangsu Province. In the table of this file, however, I did not correct the name of Province. On the other hand, Ko, et al. (1983, page 883) set the date at 1531, which is clearly a misentry. This earthquake is not listed as an earthquake in 1531.
For Chinese historical earthquakes with only year of occurrence identified, I put the year Anno Domini that covers most of the year of occurrence. Therefore, there is very small possibility that some earthquakes were recorded as having occurred in next year of the record, though actually occurring at the end of the previous year.
For the date of apogean tsunami in Japan before 1872, I put the dates when tidal waves hit Japan. After 1872, however, I put the date when earthquakes occurred.
Latitude, Longitude, Depth, Magnitude (LAT, LONG, DEP, MAG)
Most figures in the table are the same as those mentioned in the first reference listed in the reference column. Recent earthquakes carry the location of the epicenter and magnitude measured with scientific devices, but historical earthquakes carry figures estimated from the damage caused and intensity distribution. The minus of latitude and longitude indicate south latitude and west longitude, respectively. I gave an approximate latitude and longitude to earthquakes that caused considerable damage but whose epicenter location could not be found in the reference. (* is put in the depth column in the original file.)
Depth is shown in km, and s indicates shallow, n means normal, i represents intermediate, and d indicates deep. But their meanings vary somewhat depending on the reference. Normal is sometimes used to mean an earthquake of about 30 km deep, but materials adapted in the table of this file use normal with the same meaning as s in many cases.
For earthquakes between 1897 and 1980, I used Ms or mB given by Abe (1981), Abe and Noguchi (1983a, b) and Abe (private letter) in the remarks column with S or B. Of earthquakes between 1904 and 1980, those that are not accompanied by Ms or mB can safely be supposed to be earthquakes with a seismic intensity of less than 6.9. Please note that earthquakes (including those taken from the Duda catalog), have overestimated magnitude values. For earthquakes that are given an Mw value, I put the values at the foot of the remarks column with W. I gave an Mw value that was converted from Mo in the Centroid Moment Tenser catalog produced by a group of Harvard University researchers, if one is available. The values shown with S in the remarks column for earthquakes after 1981 are Ms values calculated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and they are different from the Ms values before 1980. When values by USGS are used in the MAG column, Ms is given the highest priority (in reference), and mb is used only when no Ms is available.
0 is used in each column if no information on latitude, longitude or magnitude is available. It is necessary to leave the column blank or put-in the column. Depth is shown in the letter data, and the column is left blank in this file.
5. Tidal Waves (T)
T in this column indicates the occurrence of tidal waves. It does not necessarily mean that tidal waves caused damage, but those that occurred before the 19th century are mostly considered to have caused damage. Japanese earthquakes with t indicate small non-destructive tidal waves with a wave height of less than 10 cm.
6. Fatalities, Casualties (DEAD, INJURED)
In the column of the number of fatalities and casualties, 100s and 1000s indicates several hundred and several thousand, respectively. 'Some' is used where no number is available although people were killed or injured. In this case, it is presumed that the number of fatalities and casualties is not very big, because description is available in most cases where the earthquake caused a significant number of fatalities and casualties. -indicates unknown (not recorded), and does not necessarily mean zero. 0 is used when it is clear that there were no fatalities or casualties. I used 100 for any case of more than 100, some 100s, at least 100 and about 100. It is impossible to know the difference between exactly 100 and the above, but no space is available to clarify it. The number of fatalities includes people missing.
The number of fatalities and casualties varies depending on the reference, and sometimes the difference is as much as more than 10 times. I was at a loss which number to adopt, and I used the number that I thought most sensible in the column as long as space allows. For example, the number of fatalities caused by a certain earthquake was 8,000, 40,000, 80,000, and 250,000 depending on the reference. In this case, I put 40,000 in the 'fatalities' column, and D = 8 thousand/80 thousand/250 thousand in the remarks. (H is used to show the number of casualties.)
7. Damage (DAM)
For earthquakes that caused damage in Japan, damage (excluding the damage that is caused by earthquakes in foreign countries) is classified from D1 to D7.
D1 : Very little damage such as cracks on walls and ground fissures D2 : Little damage such as failure of houses and damaged roads D3 : Damage causing multiple fatalities or the collapse of many houses, but not as destructive as D4 D4 : Damage killing 20 or more people, or the collapse of 1,000 or more houses, but not as destructive as D5 D5 : Damage killing 200 or more people, or the collapse of 10,000 or more houses, but not as destructive as D6 D6 : Damage killing 2,000 or more people, or the collapse of 100,000 or more houses, but not as destructive as D7 D7 : Damage killing 20,000 or more people, or the collapse of 1,000,000 or more houses DX : Damage whose degree is unknown, or supposed damage DY : Damage that is difficult to be isolated since other earthquakes hit the same place just before or after. The degree of damage is indicated combined with the earthquake occurring just before or after. This symbol is also used for earthquakes in foreign countries.
As for earthquakes that occurred in countries other than Japan, I have indicated the degree of damage using limi, seve, etc. (refer to the postscript), but I did not set uniform usage or clear criteria. The degree of damage needs reviewing, but I left it unchanged even in the 2002 edition. Some newly added earthquakes have a blank in the damage column. Ganse and Nelson (1981) began using these notations, and I introduced the notations of Ganse and Nelson (1981) without modification if they are available in this catalog. They classify the degree of damage by the value of physical damage. Some earthquakes are tabulated with damage shown digitally, and I changed the digits into letters in the table of this file. Some earthquakes are specified as severe or extreme although they did not cause considerable damage. Some earthquakes are specified as limited or unknown, or some are left blank in the damage column although fatalities resulted. It is necessary to be careful in using the damage reports of this catalog because some of them are contrary to common sense. When I adopted the damage reports of Milne (1911), I changed damage Class III to severe, and damage Class II to some. I do not have clear criteria and use the following abbreviations at my own discretion.
I roughly allocated insi for D1-2, limi for D2-3, mode for D3-4, cons for D4-5, seve for D5-6, and extr for D6-7. Some covers a wide range because I used some when the damage report in a reference is too short to identify the degree of damage. In old times, there may have been some earthquakes that caused more serious damage although they are presumed to have caused damage between levels D1 and D4.
unknown (No details are available although the earthquakes are presumed to have caused damage. For damage reports reprinted from the references in the G section, the column is left blank, or unknown is entered although the earthquake resulted in many fatalities.)
some (The degree of damage is unknown although the earthquake caused damage.)
unkn = unknown, insi = insignificant or slight, limi = limited or minor, mode = moderate, cons = considerable, seve = severe or heavy, extr = extreme or catastrophic
7.Remarks (REMARKS)
I put the date in the Japanese calendar (lunar calendar) for Japanese earthquakes before Dec. 2, 1872, after which the solar calendar that is the same as Anno Domini is used. Please refer Table 3 to change the lunar calendar to solar calendar. The names of earthquakes in countries other than Japan generally begin with the name of country followed by a semicolon, which is followed by the major geographic name (name of city, town, village or district), but some references did not allow me to follow this rule. I used geographic names in the references, and I abbreviated them when sufficient space was not available. In most cases, a geographic name indicates the major quake-hit area. However, for Japanese earthquakes after the Meiji Restoration, the epicenter (geographic name of the seismic center) is introduced as the locations of earthquakes. Some foreign earthquakes that occurred recently have a geographic name that indicates not a quake-hit area but the epicenter. I consistently use the current country name and borders for the country name. Country names are not necessarily their formal names (of English notation). It is difficult to standardize the spelling of country names and geographic names because their spellings vary depending on the reference, but I tried to uniformly use American-English spellings for the purpose of file searches. (Refer to Tables 4 and 5)
Chinese geographic names containing Chinese characters that cannot be found in the JIS Chinese character codes have an underlines blank. For character styles that are in use in China, I used the old character styles if they can be found in Japanese character styles, even if they are no longer in use in the Japanese language.
As a rule, I put the name of the state in parentheses for earthquakes in the United States. I put the name of island after the country name for earthquakes in countries consisting of many islands, such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Some earthquakes can be searched by name of area (for example, Taiwan, California (searching by Calif). However, it is impossible to search by Asia Minor, the Balkans, the Caribbean, Caucasus, Great Britain, Greater Antilles, the Hindu Kush, Scandinavia, Siberia, Sunda or the West Indies, and a file search gives incomplete results. For example, a file search by Peru gives Perugia besides Peru. Likewise, a file search by Antigua (country name) gives a city of the same name in Guatemala besides Antigua.
Some earthquakes are described as having I (I = 9), which means that the maximum seismic intensity or the seismic intensity at the epicenter (some are estimated) is 9. In this case, I indicates the degree on the MM scale (modified Mercalli scale) or similar scales consisting of 12 degrees, such as MCS, MSK by China and the Soviet Union.
Some earthquakes in old times have appended notes such as (also on 3/5). This means that there may be another destructive earthquake that occurred in the same area on March 5, but I decided against placing it on another line because the damage was very slight or because sufficient information is not available. The note (maybe3/5?) indicates that the date of occurrence may have been March 5.
The name of the earthquake is shown as [...EQ]. For recent Japanese earthquakes, I adopted the names given by the Meteorological Agency, but I omitted the year of occurrence.
Earthquakes with notation of fault indicate that they caused earthquake faults on the ground surface.
Figures preceded by D= and H= are the numbers of fatalities and casualties taken from references other than those which have fatality and casualty numbers placed respectively in the columns of the table.
Please refer to explanations in the M column for magnitude, such as 7.5S, 7.0B and 5.5W, which are suffixed by a letter. If it greatly differs from the value in the M column, it is advisable to use the figure suffixed by a letter for magnitude.
Table 3. Corresponding Japanese Calendar to years of the Christian calendar
Meiji
11868 Meiji
301897 Taisho
11912 Showa
11926 Showa
301955 Showa
601985 10 1877 40 1907 10 1921 10 1935 40 1965 63 1988 20 1887 44 1911 14 1925 20 1945 50 1975 Heisei 1 1989
Examples of names and spellings for the same toponym : The table of this file adopted the first one (mentioned on the extreme left)
Aleppo = Halab Alma-Ata = Vernyi = Verny Antakya = Antioch = Antiochia = Antiochea Athens = Athinai = Athenae Azerbaijan = Azerbaidzhan Baghdad = Bagdad Beirut = Beyrouth Belgrade = Beograd Bucharest = Bucuresti Cephalonia = Kefallinia = Cephallenia Corfu = Korfu = Kerkyra = Kerkira = Corcyra Corinth = Korinthos = Corinthia Cyprus = Kypros Crete = Kriti = Creta = Island of Candia Damascus = Damas = Dimashq Dubrovnik = Ragusa Durres = Durrazzo = Epidamnus = Dyrrhachiuim El Asnam = Orleanville Erzurum = Erzerum Erzincan = Erzinjan = Erzingan Firenze = Florence Georgia = Gruzia Ghir = Qir Gurgan = Gorgan = Asterabad Hawaii = Sandwich Is. Iraklion = Heraklion = Heraclum = Candia Istanbul = Constantinople Izmir = Smyrna Izmit = Kocaeli = Astacus = Nicomedia Iznik = Nicaea = Nice Khios = Chios Khoi = Choi = Khvoy Khorasan = Khurasan = Khorassan = Kourasan Kirovabad = Gandzha = Gandja = Ganza = Yelizavetpol Kos = Cos Kyrgyzstan = Kirghiz(ia) Latakia = Laodicea = Al Ladhiqiyah Leninakan = Alexandropol Lesbos = Lesvos = Mytilene = Mitilini Levkas = Leukas = Leucadia = Santa Maura Naples = Napoli = Neapolis Netherlands = Holland Neyshabur = Nish Palmyra = Tadmor Qeshm = Qishm = Kishm Quchan = Kuchan Ramla = Er Ramle = Ram Raoul Is. = Sunday Is. Rhodes = Rhodos = Rhodhos = Rhodud = Rodos Romania = Rumania = Roumania Rome = Roma Sidon = Saida Sulawesi = Celebes Tajikistan = Tadzhik Tbilisi = Tiflis Tripoli = Tripolis = Tarabulus =Trablous Tyre = Sour = Sur = Tyrus Ukraine = Ukraina Venezia = Venetia = Venice Vienna = Wien Vlore = Vlona = Valona = Avlona = Aulon Yerevan = Erevan = Erivan Zakinthos = Zacynthus = Zante
Table 5. Spellings of country names used in the table of this file
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinia, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Is., South Africa, Spain, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thai, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, USA, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu , Venezuela , Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Lesser Antilles includes the following islands (countries or dependent territories): Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Nevis, St. Christopher, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, etc.