List of earthquakes in Japan

This is a list of important earthquakes that happened in Japan. The list includes earthquakes that were very strong (7.0 or higher on special measuring scales) or caused a lot of damage or hurt many people. The strength of each earthquake is measured using different scales, such as the Richter scale (M_L), the moment magnitude scale (M_w), or the surface wave magnitude scale (M_s) for very old earthquakes. However, this list is not complete, and exact information about older earthquakes can be hard to find because modern tools to measure them were not available back then.

History

Japan has a long history of earthquakes. One of the first earthquakes to be carefully recorded happened in the year 599 in what is now Nara Prefecture. This earthquake damaged many buildings.

Scientists have been studying these old earthquakes for many years. A group was formed in 1892 to collect information about past earthquakes, and they published their findings in 1899. Later, after a big earthquake in 1923, a new group called the Earthquake Research Institute was created to continue this important work. Today, the most trusted records of old earthquakes in Japan were put together by a researcher named Tatsuo Usami. His book from 2003 lists many earthquakes that happened long ago.

Earthquake measurement

In Japan, the Shindo scale measures how strong an earthquake feels. It has ten levels, from light shaking to very strong shaking.

Earthquakes with shindo four or lower are usually not too bad. But those with shindo five and above can damage buildings, furniture, and pipes. The Japan Meteorological Agency uses this scale to tell people how strong an earthquake is.

List

Strongest earthquakes by prefecture (since 1900)

Here are some of the biggest earthquakes in Japan since 1900, grouped by area. These events show how powerful earthquakes can be and why it's important to be prepared.