M 7.4 Earthquake and Tsunami (1 m) in Japan on 20 Apr 2026 07:53 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID EQ 1536386
Earthquake Magnitude: 7.4M
Glide number: EQ-2026-000057-JPN
Depth: 35 Km
Lat/Lon: 39.9532 , 143.0462
Event Date: 20 Apr 2026 07:53 UTC
20 Apr 2026 17:53 Local
Exposed Population: 70 thousand in MMI VI
Inserted at: 20 Apr 2026 08:12 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
1.1 (Japan)
Maximum Wave Height observed: 0.16 m

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 Tsunami GDACS score
NEIC 0 1 1
us6000sri7 Scaled population (raster) 0 Max wave scenario 0.61m  
  C1 shakemap -0.59 Max wave realtime 1.01m  
  C2 shakemap 0.53      
  Country Vulnerability 0      
  INFORM_normalised 0.57      
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Japan - Earthquake (ECHO 26 Apr 2026)Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:02

  • A strong offshore earthquake of magnitude?7.4 M at a depth of 35 km occurred in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 92 km east of the north-eastern coast of Honshu island, on 20 April at 07:53 UTC (17:53 local time). The epicentre was located 100 km east-northeast of Miyako city (Iwate prefecture).
  • At least?11 aftershocks have been recorded in the area, with magnitudes ranging from 4.7? M to?5.6?M.
  • USGS?PAGER estimates that about 60 000 people were exposed to strong shaking and ?3.4 million to moderate shaking.
  • The event triggered tsunami waves that reached the north-eastern coast of Honshu, and the south-eastern coasts of Hokkaido. The highest tsunami wave (0.8 m) was recorded in Kujiko city (Iwate prefecture).
  • According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, no deaths have been reported, but six people have been injured, two in Hokkaido, one in Aomori, and three in Iwate prefecture.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (88), NEIC (5), OCHA (1), WMO (2), USGS (5), (3), INFORM (4),