August 3, 1974 Earthquake: Kakiota, Mito, Tokyo, Honshu, Japan
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Kakiota, Mito, Tokyo, Honshu, Japan on August 3, 1974 at 18:16:34 UTC, 58 km below the surface. It killed 2 people.
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
- August 3, 1974
- Time
- 18:16:34 UTC
- Place
- Kakiota, Mito, Tokyo, Honshu, Japan
- Magnitude
- 5.7 (mb)
- Magnitude scales
- mb 5.7 · Unspecified 5.8
- Focal depth
- 58 km (36 mi)
- Intensity
- VI, strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 36.000° N, 139.820° E
- Country
- Japan
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. Unspecified: the method was not stated in the published sources. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Deaths
- 2
- Injuries
- 17
- 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.
Magnitude estimates
The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.6 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.72 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.36 |
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
- #1167 Rothe, J.P. (1974-1975). Annual Summary of Information on Natural Disasters, UNESCO, Paris, France, no. 9 (1974, missing from archives) and no. 10 (1975), 107 p.
- #1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- September 1, 1923, Tokyo, Yokohama, Japan
- May 27, 1293, Kamakura, Japan
- May 8, 1847, Zenkoji, Nagano, Japan
- November 11, 1855, Tokyo, Japan
- December 30, 1703, Off SW Boso Peninsula, Japan
- September 27, 1611, Aidu, Japan
- February 1, 1666, Takata, Japan
- December 18, 1828, Sandyo IN Etigo, Japan
- November 4, 1677, Off SE. Boso Peninsula, Japan
- November 25, 1930, Idu, Honshu, Japan
- July 29, 1649, Tokyo, Japan
- September 12, 1495, Kamakura, Japan
- March 1, 1633, Odawara, Japan
- March 11, 1853, Odawara, Japan
- October 23, 2004, Niigata Prefecture, Honshu, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1974The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1974Recent 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 4664. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp00007fr, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.