January 18, 1981 Earthquake: E. Honshu Island, Japan
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck E. Honshu Island, Japan on January 18, 1981 at 18:17:24 UTC, 33 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
- January 18, 1981
- Time
- 18:17:24 UTC
- Place
- E. Honshu Island, Japan
- Magnitude
- 6.9 (Ms)
- Magnitude scales
- Ms 6.9 · mb 6.4
- Focal depth
- 33 km (21 mi)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 38.640° N, 142.750° E
- Country
- Japan
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9 | Ms, surface-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 6.98 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
References #150 and #417 list magnitude 7.0
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.
- #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.
- #417 Soloviev, S L., Ch. N. Go, and Kh. S. Kim (1992). Catalog of tsunamis in the Pacific, 1969-1982. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 208 p. Translated from Russian by Amerind Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1988 [Originally published in Russian in 1986].
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- June 15, 1896, Sanriku, Japan
- March 11, 2011, Honshu, Japan
- December 2, 1611, Sanriku, Japan
- March 2, 1933, Sanriku, Japan
- February 17, 1793, Sanriku,rikuzen,rikuchu, Japan
- December 6, 1616, Sanriku, 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 1981The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1981Recent 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 6460. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0001bss, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.