Magnitude 6.5 earthquake — Bonin Islands, Japan region
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck near Bonin Islands, Japan region at a depth of about 492 km. Details, shaking intensity and any tsunami information are on the USGS event page.
Explained simply
The Bonin Islands, also called the Ogasawara Islands, are a remote Japanese island chain in the western Pacific, far south of Tokyo. The region lies where the Pacific plate moves beneath the Philippine Sea plate, a process that produces frequent earthquakes.
At nearly 500 kilometres deep, this earthquake began within the sinking Pacific plate, far below the sea floor. Deep earthquakes can be felt over a wide area, while their effects at the surface depend on their depth, strength and distance from populated places.