Earthquakes near Nagasaki, 1927–2026

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7 on April 15, 2016 (6 km ESE of Kumamoto, Japan), for which NOAA records 273 deaths. 5 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 7 of the events here, 372 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.8 on July 28, 2026 (The 2026 Kumamoto Region, Japan Earthquake). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Nagasaki, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4.8 m, on March 31, 1979. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Nagasaki. The largest was Unzendake on June 3, 1991, at 1 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 43 people by NOAA’s count.

• July 28, 2026Earthquake · M 6.8The 2026 Kumamoto Region, Japan Earthquake · 38 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 15, 2016Earthquake · M 7.06 km ESE of Kumamoto, Japan · 273 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• June 3, 1991Eruption · VEI 1Unzendake · 43 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• March 31, 1979Tsunami · 4.8 m hereNagasaki, JapanNOAA NCEI
• February 26, 1961Earthquake · M 7.518 km NNE of Nichinan, Japan · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
• November 2, 1931Earthquake · M 7.958 km ESE of Takanabe, Japan · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Nagasaki 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