Japan’s major earthquakes over the past 15 years

JAPAN / FOCUS

Japan’s major earthquakes over the past 15 years

Shinji Kiyomoto, director of earthquake and tsunami countermeasures at the Japan Meteorological Agency, speaks about the Kumamoto earthquake on Tuesday in Tokyo. | JIJI

REUTERS

Jul 29, 2026

A powerful earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday, leaving many presumed ?dead inside a partially collapsed shopping mall, thousands of houses without power and factories suspended.

Situated on the Ring of Fire?arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the ?world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater?and each year experiences ?up ?to 2,000 quakes that people can feel.

The following ?are some of the major quakes that have hit Japan in the last 15 years:

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake ?and tsunami struck northeast Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing a meltdown at ?the Fukushima nuclear power plant, leading to the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
On April 16, 2016, a ?7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto, the ?scene of Tuesday’s temblor, killing more than 270 people, including some caught in landslides and heavy rain ?in the aftermath.
On ?June 18, 2018, a magnitude-6.1 earthquake in ?Osaka?killed four people, injured hundreds more and ?halted factory ?lines in an industrial area.
On Sept. 6, 2018, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake paralyzed Hokkaido, killing more than 40 people, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its ?5.3 million residents.
On Feb. 13, 2021, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture,?injuring dozens of people and triggering widespread power outages in Greater Tokyo.
On March 16, 2022, a ?magnitude-7.4 ?earthquake jolted the coast off Fukushima again, leaving three dead, ?more than 200 injured and reviving memories of the quake and ?tsunami that crippled the Pacific coast region just over a decade earlier.
On Jan. 1, 2024, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked the remote Noto Peninsula?on ?New Year’s Day. More than 300 people were killed.
On Aug. 8, 2024, a magnitude-7.1 earthquake off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture triggered Japan’s first-ever advisory on higher-than-usual risks of a megaquake, which was lifted a week later.