Aomori

Earthquakes near Aomori, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 9 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Aomori, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 8 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.9, twice: on March 9, 1931 (78 km E of Hachinohe, Japan) and on May 16, 1968 (70 km S of Honchō, Japan).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Aomori in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

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. 7 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 7 of the events here, 142 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.6 on December 8, 2025 (2025 Aomori Prefecture, Japan Earthquake). NOAA lists 13 tsunamis from elsewhere that reached the coast within 100 km of Aomori 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 34 deaths within 100 km of Aomori. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes within 100 km of Aomori. The deadliest was Akita-Yakeyama on May 8, 1986, which killed one person by NOAA’s count.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Aomori 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

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