Earthquakes near Akita, 1927–2026

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.4 on May 26, 1983 (83 km WNW of Noshiro, Japan), for which NOAA records 104 deaths. 6 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 171 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7 on March 20, 2021 (30 km E of Ishinomaki, Japan). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Akita, and 7 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 14.93 m, on May 26, 1983. The deadliest here came on May 26, 1983 from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake (Noshiro, Japan): NOAA’s runup records count 47 deaths within 100 km of Akita. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Akita. The deadliest was Akita-Yakeyama on May 8, 1986, which killed one person by NOAA’s count.

• March 20, 2021Earthquake · M 7.030 km E of Ishinomaki, JapanUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 8, 1986EruptionAkita-Yakeyama · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 26, 1983Earthquake · M 7.483 km WNW of Noshiro, Japan · 104 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 26, 1983Tsunami · 14.93 m hereNoshiro, Japan · 47 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• June 16, 1964Earthquake · M 7.627 km NW of Murakami, Japan · 36 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Akita when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history