May 26, 2003 Earthquake: Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Akita, Honshu, Japan
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Akita, Honshu, Japan on May 26, 2003 at 09:24:33 UTC, 68 km below the surface.
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
- May 26, 2003
- Time
- 09:24:33 UTC
- Place
- Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Akita, Honshu, Japan
- Magnitude
- 7 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 68 km (42 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 38.849° N, 141.568° E
- Country
- Japan
The toll
- Injuries
- 143
- Damage
- $233 million
- Houses damaged
- 720
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.
Seventy people injured in Iwate, 58 in Miyagi, 10 in Yamagata, 4 in Akita and 1 in Aomori Prefectures. At least 720 buildings and some roads damaged in Tohoku District. At least five fires and 63 landslides occurred and some power and waterlines broke in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. Several concrete pillars were damaged along the Tohoku
Shinkansen railway line. Felt throughout northern
Japan and as far south as Numazu. Possible liquefaction with ground subsidence of at least 10 cm occurred at Ofunato. Recorded (6L JMA) in Iwate and Miyagi; (5L JMA) in Aomori, Fukushima and Yamagata; (4 JMA) in Akita, Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama and Tochigi; (3 JMA) in Gumma, Kanagawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Tokyo and Yamagata Prefectures. Also recorded (4 JMA) in south-central Hokkaido and (3 JMA) throughout southern and central Hokkaido. (reference #1053)
$233 million damage. (reference #1250)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- March 11, 2011, Honshu, Japan
- July 10, 1804, Kisakata, Japan
- August 31, 1896, Senhoku, Ugo, Japan
- October 18, 1644, NW. Honshu Island, Japan
- March 15, 1914, Senhoku, Japan
- September 25, 1810, Oga, 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
- April 30, 1962, Sendai, Honshu, Japan
- July 23, 2008, N, Honshu, Japan
- February 13, 2021, Off Fukushima, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 2003The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2003Recent 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 5695.