Otaru

Earthquakes near Otaru through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 6 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Otaru, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on July 12, 1993 (107 km W of Iwanai, 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 Otaru in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 231 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 6 here, back to 1611. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 2,133 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on September 5, 2018 (27 km ESE of Chitose, Japan). NOAA’s record here begins on December 2, 1611 with a tsunami (Sanriku). It grows thinner going back: 4 of the 6 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Otaru, and 8 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5.8 m, on July 12, 1993. The deadliest here came on December 2, 1611 from a magnitude 8.1 earthquake (Sanriku): NOAA’s runup records count 1,783 deaths within 100 km of Otaru. NOAA lists 9 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes within 100 km of Otaru. The largest was Toya on August 16, 1663, at 5 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 5 people by NOAA’s count.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Otaru 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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