Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Strikes Off Japan's Sanriku Coast, 102 km Northeast of Miyako
On April 20, 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean 102 kilometers east-northeast of Miyako, a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, off the Sanriku coast. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the origin time at 07:52:58 UTC, or 16:52 local time, with a depth of 25 kilometers and an epicenter at 39.971 degrees north, 143.059 degrees east. The USGS flagged the event for tsunami information.
Miyako sits on Iwate's Pacific coast, where the ria coastline of Sanriku supports major fishing and aquaculture industries. The epicentral area lies west of the Japan Trench, along the subduction zone where the Pacific Plate dives beneath northern Honshu, one of the most seismically active offshore regions in the world.
About four minutes after the mainshock, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake followed in the same area, 100 kilometers east of Miyako at 07:56 UTC, at a depth of 35 kilometers. The USGS monthly catalog shows this was the world's second magnitude 7.4 earthquake of April 2026, after the April 1 event off North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
This report uses only the measurements in the USGS real-time event catalog; damage assessments rest with later Japanese official announcements.
Related: Series of Magnitude 6-Plus Earthquakes Strike Off Hihifo, Tonga in One Day, Largest 6.3
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：日本岩手县宫古市净土之滨海岸（资料照片），震中位于宫古市东北约102公里海域。くろふね（Jranar）摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Jodogahama beach in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, Japan (file photo); the epicenter was about 102 km northeast of Miyako. Photo by Jranar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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