April 22, 1898 Earthquake: Sanriku, Japan
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Sanriku, Japan on April 22, 1898 at 23:37 UTC. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- April 22, 1898
- Time
- 23:37 UTC
- Place
- Sanriku, Japan
- Magnitude
- 7.2 (Ms)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 38.600° N, 142.000° E
- Country
- Japan
The toll
- Injuries
- 2
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #414:
1898, April 23, 8:37 (local time). There was a strong earthquake at Ichikawa, Fukushima, Akita, Aomori, Yamagata, Utsunomiya, Maebashi, Kumagai, Niigata, Yokohama and other places on the northern half of Honshu Island. A house was flattened at Maizawa (Iwate Prefecture); the ground
cracked at many places at Nanamikino; buildings were damaged at Satokanaguchimachl and Kuji. Homes and temples were damaged and two persons were injured at Sanuma (Miyagi Prefecture). Many buildings suffered more or less damage, and a statue of the Buddha collapsed at Sendai. The regions of Ishinomaki, Fukushima and the vicinity also experienced considerable damage. At Sakata, the water became very rough in all the rivers and flooded the shores. The earthquake was felt lightly in the regions of Tokachi, Mito, Kofu, Nagoya, Yakosuka and very lightly at Nemuro, Fukui and Namazu. The radius of the area in which it was felt was 650 km. No visible tsunami was reported, but the tide gauge record at Ayukawa shows that a slight tsunami did occur. A wave arrived 50 minutes after the earthquake, and had a height of 10 cm and a period of 25 minutes. The assumed travel time of the tsunami to Miyako was 25 minutes.
Reference #150:
1898, April 23. 38.6 N 142 E, magnitude 7.2. Some damage by earthquake in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Pref.
Reference #1006:
1898, April 22. 23:36++.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- June 15, 1896, Sanriku, Japan
- March 11, 2011, Honshu, Japan
- February 17, 1793, Sanriku,rikuzen,rikuchu, Japan
- July 10, 1804, Kisakata, Japan
- August 31, 1896, Senhoku, Ugo, Japan
- October 18, 1644, NW. Honshu Island, Japan
- July 6, 1905, Off Fukushima, Japan
- June 12, 1978, Sanriku, Japan
- June 13, 2008, Tokyo, Honshu, Japan
- March 16, 2022, Off Fukushima, Japan
- April 7, 2011, Near E Coast Honshu, Japan
- October 2, 1678, Sanriku,rikuchu, Japan
- February 13, 2021, Off Fukushima, Japan
- April 30, 1962, Sendai, Honshu, Japan
- July 23, 2008, N, Honshu, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1898The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 2534.