August 10, 2009 Earthquake: S Coast, Honshu, Japan
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck S Coast, Honshu, Japan on August 10, 2009 at 20:07:09 UTC, 40 km below the surface. It killed 1 person.
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 10, 2009
- Time
- 20:07:09 UTC
- Place
- S Coast, Honshu, Japan
- Magnitude
- 6.4 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 40 km (25 mi)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 34.743° N, 138.264° E
- Country
- Japan
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 123
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses damaged
- 5,192
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.
Felt Reports
One person killed, 123 people injured and 5,192 buildings damaged in the Shizuoka area. One road damaged at Tokyo. Felt (VI) at Shizuoka; (V) at Akiruno and Namazu; (IV) at Ayase, Gotemba, Machida, Matsumoto, Okazaki, Tachikawa, Tokyo, Yamato, Yokohama, Zama and Zushi; (III) at Atsugi, Hachioji, Hamura, Kawasaki, Kyoto,Nagoya, Osaka, Sagamihara and Yokosuka. A tsunami with a wave height of 60 cm was recorded at Yaizu.
Tectonic Summary
The southern Honshu earthquake of August 10, 2009, occurred near the Suruga Trough, on or very near the boundary between the Philippine Sea plate and the Amur plate (sometimes viewed as part of the Eurasia plate). The source region lies just south of the triple junction of the Philippine Sea plate, the Amur plate, and the Okhotsk plate (sometimes viewed as part of the North America plate) and is tectonically complex. In the epicentral region, the Philippine Sea plate subducts west or northwest beneath the Amur plate. Both the subducting Philippine Sea plate and the overriding Amur plate are seismically active due to high intraplate stresses, and the thrust-fault boundary between the plates is seismogenic. Present estimates of the earthquake's epicenter, focal-depth, and focal-mechanism suggest that the shock did not occur on the plate interface, but they do not permit us to confidently determine if the earthquake occurred within the Philippine Sea plate or the Amur plate.
(above from reference #1053)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- September 1, 1923, Tokyo, Yokohama, Japan
- May 27, 1293, Kamakura, Japan
- January 18, 1586, Ise Bay, Japan
- October 27, 1891, Mino-Owari, Japan
- November 11, 1855, Tokyo, Japan
- December 30, 1703, Off SW Boso Peninsula, Japan
- September 20, 1498, Enshunada Sea, Japan
- January 12, 1945, S, Honshu, Japan
- October 28, 1707, Enshunada, Japan
- December 7, 1944, Off Southeast Coast Kii Peninsula, Japan
- February 3, 1605, Enshunada, Japan
- December 23, 1854, Enshunada Sea, Japan
- December 17, 1096, Enshunada, Japan
- November 25, 1930, Idu, Honshu, Japan
- April 9, 1858, N, Hida, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 2009The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2009Recent 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 8377.