Do earthquakes frequently occur at 10km hypocenter depths in Japan and is this because of DUMBs? No, that's not true: earthquakes do not occur frequently at at this depth and there is no such thing as DUMBs.
According to Anti Defamation League (ADL), DUMBs is short for Deep Underground Military Bases. This conspiracy theory suggests that children, trafficked by the Deep State, are being held in secret military bases underground. Conspiracy theorists believe earthquakes are caused by members of the military, freeing children from these bases and arresting members of the Deep State.
The claim appeared on a TikTok video (archived here) on May 7th, 2023. It opened:
DUMBS (secret underground facility) and tunnel explosions. Did you know that in Japan there are lots of earthquakes 10km underground?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu May 18 12:11:24 2023 UTC)
Writer and Filmmaker, David Sloma, published six books: Greyland, Oceandeep, Rescueplan, Moonbase, and Wormwood D.U.M.B.s (Deep Underground Military Bases.) It is a fictitious story.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has published a 2022 earthquake report. Nowhere in the report does it suggest, that earthquakes happened frequently at 10km hypocenter depths.
Earthquake Science Research (JESEA) says that earthquakes occur at various depths, in various locations, from close to the surface to deep underground. But generally, they occur at depths from 10 km to 50 km below sea level.
For example, earthquakes that occur in inland areas, mostly have a depth of around 30 km, while earthquakes with epicenters on the seafloor are often deeper.
