On Wednesday Morning a Significant M5.3 AFTERSHOCK struck in the North Pacific Ocean 159km from Hachinohe (Japan).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 22nd, 2026.

A significant MAG-5.3 aftershock struck in the North Pacific Ocean 159 kilometer from Hachinohe, Japan in the morning of Wednesday April 22nd, 2026.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 133 kilometers (83 mi) off the coast of Japan, 159 kilometer south-east of Hachinohe in Aomori. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 35 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 22, 2026 09:01 (Tokyo Time) - Apr 22, 2026 00:01 Universal Time.
Location:	159 km SE of Hachinohe, Aomori, Japan. Coordinates 39°55'4"N 143°12'20"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.3 Detected by 9 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.103 .
Depth:	35 km (22 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in Japan . The closest significant population center near the earthquake is Miyako in Iwate, Japan. Miyako is located 112 kilometer (70 mi) east of the epicenter.

Major cities near this earthquake: Sendai is located 273 km to the southwest. Morioka is located 177 km to the west. Hachinohe is located 159 km to the northwest.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 1 person

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 1 person has reported shaking in one place in Japan.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Misawa, Aomori, Japan: 1 person.

This is likely an aftershock

This earthquake is likely an aftershock of the MAG-7.4 earthquake that struck 2 days earlier. That main earthquake hit 14 km (9 mi) west of the epicenter of this MAG-5.3 aftershock.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

The risk of aftershocks decreases rapidly over time. Usually, aftershocks are at least one order of magnitude lower than a main shock.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. In total, 114 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.3 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every month.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 22/04/26 12:28 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000srxu
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260422_0000004
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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