February 10, 1945 Tsunami: Sanriku, Japan

Name: February 10, 1945 Tsunami: Sanriku, Japan
Start: 1945-02-10
Location: Sanriku, Japan

February 10, 1945 · 0.4 m · 2 deaths · 2 houses destroyed · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake began at Sanriku, Japan on February 10, 1945 at 04:57:00 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.4 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 2 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.

Where the waves reached

The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

Tsunami warnings in force

Travel times

How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.

The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.

1 to 4 hours
5 to 6 hours
7 to 14 hours
15 hours and more

Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.

The tsunami

Date: February 10, 1945, 04:57:00 UTC
Source: Sanriku, Japan
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.3, 20 km deep
Maximum water height: 0.4 m (1.3 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): -1.5
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): -1.3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Definite tsunami
Source location: 40.900° N, 142.100° E

The toll

Deaths: 2 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: 2 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it

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.

Reference #414:

1945, February 10, 13:58 local time, validity 3. There was an earthquake with source off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, which caused a weak tsunami.

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

Where	Country	Km from source	Water height, m	Inland, m	Measured by	First wave, UTC	Deaths
Hachinohe	Japan	63	0.18		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)

Every tsunami in 1945 The 1900s Tsunamis of Japan The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts in force

Sources

Tsunami events and runups 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 tsunami event 1760.