Morioka

Earthquakes near Morioka, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 31 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Morioka, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. One stands far above the rest: a magnitude 9.1 on March 11, 2011 (2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Japan). The next strongest reached 8.

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 18,423 deaths for it. 20 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 10 of the events here, 21,622 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.4 on April 20, 2026 (102 km ENE of Miyako, Japan). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Morioka, and 12 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 March 11, 2011 from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake (Honshu Island): NOAA’s runup records count 5,690 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.

The events

Good to know

  • 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

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