Japan earthquakes

M6.1 earthquake 37 km SSE of ?funato, Japan

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 37 km SSE of ?funato, Japan on Mon, Feb 20, 1978, 1:36 PM JST (04:36 UTC), 60 km (37 mi) below the surface.

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Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 6.1 (mb, body-wave), strong
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Mon, Feb 20, 1978, 1:36 PM JST
UTC: 1978-02-20 04:36:58 UTC
Depth: 60.0 km (37.3 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 38.785° N, 141.949° E
Region: Japan
Strongest shaking: V, moderate shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
6.1	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
6.5	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
6.5	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 4791), matched to this event by time and place.

Injuries: 30
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: V, moderate shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 7.8% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 1.6 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Stations used: 329

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 3.1 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

Earthquakes today Japan earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000t22 (also filed as gcmtc022078a, gcmt19780220043658, atlas19780220043700, iscgem686726). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 6:43 AM UTC.