The last earthquake with Mw>5.5 (NEIS) was a Mw 6.4 in the
Hokkaido Island region of Japan on 13 August. The only event
in the past week of Mb>=5.5 was the Mw 5.6 earthquake in the
Ryukyu Islands on August 17. A period of 7+ days is quite unusual
between global events of Mb>5.5. The last time this happened was
between Apr. 12 and Apr. 25, 1998. Other quiet periods during the
1990's were:

LENGTH QUIET START END

8.8 days 1/24/90 to 2/02/1990
8.7 days 7/26/91 to 8/03/1991
7.4 days 8/27/91 to 9/03/1991
7.2 days 9/21/91 to 9/28/1991
8.3 days 3/18/94 to 3/26/1994
8.3 days 12/19/94 to 12/27/1994
11.0 days 12/10/96 to 12/21/1996
8.4 days 12/22/97 to 12/30/1997
7.4 days 4/03/98 to 4/10/1998
12.7 days 4/12/98 to 4/25/1998