March 11, 1763 Earthquake: N. Sanriku, Japan

Date

March 11, 1763

Place

N. Sanriku, Japan

Magnitude

7.8 (Ms)

Tsunami

Yes: the tsunami it caused

Epicenter

41.000° N, 142.500° E

Country

Japan

Region

East Asia

Damage

Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with its tsunami and other effects

Houses destroyed

Some (about 51 to 100) with its tsunami and other effects

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.

1. #150 Iida, Kumizi (1984). Catalog of tsunamis in Japan and its neighboring countries. Aichi Institute of Technology, Yachigusa, Yakusa-cho, Toyota-shi, 470-03, Japan, 52 p.

• March 8, 1766, Hirosaki, JapanM6.9 · 1,700 deaths · 8,200 houses destroyed · 152 km
• July 31, 1640, Uchiura Bay, JapanM6.5 · 700 deaths · 20 houses destroyed · 193 km
• August 31, 1896, Senhoku, Ugo, Japan206 deaths · 5,911 houses destroyed · 169 km
• March 21, 1982, Hokkaido, Urakawa, Hiroo, JapanM6.7 · 110 deaths · $1 million · 129 km
• May 16, 1968, Off East Coast of Honshu Island, JapanM8.2 · 52 deaths · $131 million · 1,218 houses destroyed · 63 km
• September 5, 2018, Hokkaido, JapanM6.6 · 44 deaths · $2 billion · 193 km
• March 4, 1952, Hokkaido, JapanM8.1 · 33 deaths · 2,422 houses destroyed · 170 km
• August 23, 1856, Oshima, JapanM8 · 26 deaths · 193 houses destroyed · 101 km
• August 9, 1901, Off Northeast Coast Honshu, JapanM8.2 · 18 deaths · 8 houses destroyed · 48 km
• December 28, 1994, Honshu, JapanM7.8 · 3 deaths · $170.4 million · 94 km
• September 25, 2003, Hokkaido, JapanM8.3 · 2 deaths · $90 million · 148 km
• July 23, 2008, N, Honshu, JapanM6.8 · 1 death · 159 km
• December 12, 2025, Off East Coast of Honshu Island, JapanM6.7 · 23 km
• December 8, 2025, Misawa, Honshu, JapanM7.6 · $600 million · 1 house destroyed · 28 km
• February 10, 1945, Sanriku, Japan35 km

Significant earthquakes of 1763The 1700sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5910.