February 10, 1945 Earthquake: Sanriku, Japan
An earthquake struck Sanriku, Japan on February 10, 1945 at 04:57:00 UTC, 20 km below the surface. 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
- February 10, 1945
- Time
- 04:57:00 UTC
- Place
- Sanriku, Japan
- Focal depth
- 20 km (12 mi)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 40.900° N, 142.100° E
- Country
- Japan
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #414:
1945, February 10, 13:58 local time. There was an earthquake with source off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, which caused a weak tsunami.
Iida et al. (1967): 10.II; 4h58m; 40.9 N., 142.1 E.; 30 km; M=7.3, m=-1.5.
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #88 Duda, Seweryn J. (1965). Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt. Tectonophysics, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 409-452. DOI:10.1016/0040-1951(65)90035-1
- #414 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1974). A catalogue of tsunamis on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 173-1968. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 439 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5077, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 447 p.]
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- March 8, 1766, Hirosaki, Japan
- July 31, 1640, Uchiura Bay, Japan
- August 31, 1896, Senhoku, Ugo, Japan
- March 21, 1982, Hokkaido, Urakawa, Hiroo, Japan
- May 16, 1968, Off East Coast of Honshu Island, Japan
- September 5, 2018, Hokkaido, Japan
- August 23, 1856, Oshima, Japan
- August 9, 1901, Off Northeast Coast Honshu, Japan
- February 8, 1793, Aomori, Japan
- December 28, 1994, Honshu, Japan
- September 25, 2003, Hokkaido, Japan
- July 23, 2008, N, Honshu, Japan
- December 8, 2025, Misawa, Honshu, Japan
- March 15, 1763, Hachinohe, Sanriku, Japan
- August 16, 1739, N Sanriku,mutsu, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1945The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1945Recent 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 6648. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem898801, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.