Earthquakes near Morioka through history

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 18,423 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 43 here, back to AD 850. NOAA records deaths in 21 of the events here, 41,790 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.4 on April 20, 2026 (102 km ENE of Miyako, Japan). NOAA’s record here begins on November 27, 850 with an earthquake (Yomagata, Shonai). It grows thinner going back: 20 of the 43 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Morioka, and 32 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 55.88 m, on March 11, 2011. The deadliest here came on June 15, 1896 from a magnitude 8.3 earthquake (Sanriku): NOAA’s runup records count 18,158 deaths within 100 km of Morioka. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Morioka. The deadliest was Akita-Yakeyama on May 8, 1986, which killed one person by NOAA’s count.

• April 20, 2026Earthquake · M 7.4102 km ENE of Miyako, JapanUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• March 11, 2011Earthquake · M 9.12011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Japan · 18,423 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• March 11, 2011Tsunami · 55.88 m hereHonshu Island · 5,690 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 8, 1986EruptionAkita-Yakeyama · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• February 7, 1897Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)NOAA NCEI
• June 15, 1896Tsunami · 38.2 m hereSanriku · 18,158 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• November 27, 850Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)Yomagata, ShonaiNOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Morioka 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