Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
Open Access

Japan Earthquake

The Japanese archipelago is found in a neighborhood where several continental and oceanic plates meet. This is the explanation for frequent earthquakes and therefore the presence of the many volcanoes and hot springs across Japan. If earthquakes occur below or on the brink of the ocean, they'll trigger tidal waves (tsunami).

This is an inventory of earthquakes in Japan with either a magnitude greater than or adequate to 7.0 or which caused significant damage or casualties. As indicated below, magnitude is measured on the Richter magnitude scale (ML) or the instant magnitude scale (Mw), or the surface wave magnitude scale (Ms) for very old earthquakes. The present list isn't exhaustive, and reliable and precise magnitude data is scarce for earthquakes that occurred before the event of recent measuring instruments.

Many parts of the country have experienced devastating earthquakes and tidal waves within the past. The Great Kanto Earthquake, the worst in Japanese history, hit the Kanto plain around Tokyo in 1923 and resulted within the deaths of over 100,000 people.

In January 1995, a robust earthquake hit the town of Kobe and surroundings. Known as the Southern Hyogo Earthquake or Great Hanshin Earthquake, it killed 6,000 and injured 415,000 people. 100,000 homes were completely destroyed and 185,000 were severely damaged.

On March 11, 2011, the strongest ever recorded earthquake in Japan triggered a huge tsunami along the Pacific Coast of northeastern Japan. Known as the good East Japan Earthquake, the earthquake and particularly the following tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and caused a nuclear accident at an influence plant in Fukushima Prefecture.