Strong M6.7 Earthquake struck on Friday Evening in the North Pacific Ocean near Ōfunato (Japan).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on May 15th, 2026. Last updated July 14th, 2026.

A strong M6.7 earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean 41 kilometer from Ōfunato, Japan in the evening of Friday May 15th, 2026. Mag 6.5+ earthquakes at shallow depth under sea have the potential to cause tsunami's.

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 35 kilometers (22 mi) off the coast of Japan, 41 kilometer east of Ōfunato in Iwate. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 42 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	May 15, 2026 20:22 (Tokyo Time) - May 15, 2026 11:22 Universal Time.
Location:	41 km east of Ōfunato, Iwate, Japan. Coordinates 38°56'7"N 142°9'28"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 6.7 Detected by 47 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.047 .
Depth:	42 km (26 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Max. Intensity:	VI Strong On the Modified Mercalli Scale.
Tsunami Risk:	Potential Tsunami Risk Mag 6.5+ earthquakes at shallow depth under sea have the potential to cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Potential Tsunami Risk

DISCLAIMER: We strongly suggest to closely monitor advice from local authorities with regards to tsunami risks. Our analysis is based on automatically collected data from external sources, and these might contain mistakes. In addition, earthquakes can cause landslides that may lead to a tsunami, or be a followed by another, potentially stonger, earthquake.

There is a potential tsunami risk in the aftermath of this earthquake, immediately evacuate to higher grounds away from coastal areas and monitor advice from local authorities. This earthquake checks all the likely tsunami risk factors: under sea, at a magnitude of MAG-6.5+ and at a shallow depth.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Factor	Under Sea?	MAG-6.5 or stronger?	Shallow depth?
Explanation	Almost all tsunami's are caused by earthquakes with their epicenter under sea or very near the sea. However stay cautious in coastal areas as earthquakes on land may cause landslides into sea, potentially still causing a local tsunami.	Under MAG 6.5: Very unlikely to cause a tsunami. MAG 6.5 to 7.5: Destructive tsunami's do occur, but are uncommon. Likely to observe small sea level changes. MAG 7.6+: Earthquakes with these magnitudes might produce destructive tsunami's.	Most destructive tsunami's are caused by shallow earthquakes with a depth between 0 and 100km under the surface of the earth. Deeper tsunami's are unlikely to displace to ocean floor.
This Earthquake	This earthquake appears to have struck under the sea.	This earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7. Earthquakes of this strength could trigger a tsunami.	This earthquake occurred at a depth of of 42 km (26 mi). Earthquakes this shallow could trigger a tsunami.

Minimal impact predicted

The US Geographic Survey (USGS) describes the impact of this earthquake as follows:

Power outages caused disruptions on the Tohoku Shinkansen.

Based on scientific estimates by the USGS, the risk of high fatalities for this earthquake is classified at level GREEN (low). They expect an 90% likelyhood of between 0 and 1 fatalities.

The USGS classifies the economic impact of this earthquake at level GREEN (low). They expect an 90% likelyhood of between 0 and 1 million US Dollars in economic damage and impact.

Roughly 7 million people exposed to shaking

The USGS has published a report estimating the number of people exposed to this earthquake. Acoording to their analysis, roughly 7 million have been exposed to shaking at an MMI level of II or higher.

The highest earthquake impact level for this earthquake is VI, which corresponds with strong shaking and probably light damage. Roughly 4,050 people are expected to be exposed to this level. Intensity level IV was experienced by the majority of people (around 6 million). In their region, light shaking and likely no damage can be expected. All exposure to shaking was within the borders of Japan .

People	MMI Level	Shaking	Damage
0	I	Not noticable	None
0	II	Very weak	None
357,200	III	Weak	Probably none
5,961,000	IV	Light	Likely none
714,500	V	Moderate	Very light
4,050	VI	Strong	Light
0	VII	Very Strong	Moderate
0	VIII	Severe	Moderate to heavy
0	IX	Violent	Heavy
0	X	Extreme	Very heavy

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in Japan . The closest significant population center near the earthquake is Ōfunato in Iwate, Japan. Ōfunato is located 41 kilometer (25 mi) east of the epicenter. Ōfunato experienced an earthquake intensity (MMI Scale) of roughly VI. That level implies strong shaking and probably light damage.

Major cities near this earthquake: Tokyo is located 422 km to the southwest (intensity unknown, possibly low). Yokohama is located 448 km to the southwest (intensity unknown, possibly low). Sendai is located 135 km to the southwest and experienced an intensity of IV (light shaking, likely no damage).

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below. If places don't have intensity data available, it likely means the experienced impact in those places was fairly small.

Overview of nearby places

Cities and Towns around the epicenter of this earthquake.
Distance	Place	Intensity (MMI)
41 km (25 mi) W from epicenter	Ōfunato Iwate, Japan.	VI Strong
45 km (28 mi) NW from epicenter	Kamaishi Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
62 km (39 mi) N from epicenter	Yamada Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
69 km (43 mi) NW from epicenter	Tōno Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
81 km (50 mi) N from epicenter	Miyako Iwate, Japan.	IV Light
89 km (55 mi) W from epicenter	Ichinoseki Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
91 km (57 mi) W from epicenter	Mizusawa Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
94 km (58 mi) SW from epicenter	Ishinomaki Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
95 km (59 mi) W from epicenter	Kanegasaki Iwate, Japan.	V Moderate
98 km (61 mi) NW from epicenter	Kitakami Iwate, Japan.	IV Light
99 km (62 mi) SW from epicenter	Wakuya Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
99 km (62 mi) SW from epicenter	Yamoto Miyagi, Japan.	V Moderate
103 km (64 mi) NW from epicenter	Hanamaki Iwate, Japan.	IV Light
105 km (65 mi) SW from epicenter	Kogota Miyagi, Japan.	V Moderate
112 km (70 mi) W from epicenter	Furukawa Miyagi, Japan.	V Moderate
114 km (71 mi) SW from epicenter	Matsushima Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
119 km (74 mi) SW from epicenter	Shiogama Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
121 km (75 mi) NW from epicenter	Morioka Iwate, Japan.	IV Light
123 km (76 mi) SW from epicenter	Rifu Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
126 km (78 mi) SW from epicenter	Tomiya Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
132 km (82 mi) NW from epicenter	Shizukuishi Iwate, Japan.	IV Light
135 km (84 mi) SW from epicenter	Sendai Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
145 km (90 mi) W from epicenter	Yuzawa Akita, Japan.	IV Light
145 km (90 mi) W from epicenter	Yokote Akita, Japan.	IV Light
146 km (91 mi) SW from epicenter	Iwanuma Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
152 km (94 mi) SW from epicenter	Watari Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
155 km (96 mi) W from epicenter	Ōmagari Akita, Japan.	IV Light
158 km (98 mi) SW from epicenter	Ōkawara Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
161 km (100 mi) SW from epicenter	Kakuda Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
162 km (101 mi) W from epicenter	Higashine Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
162 km (101 mi) W from epicenter	Shinjō Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
168 km (104 mi) SW from epicenter	Tendō Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
169 km (105 mi) SW from epicenter	Shiroishi Miyagi, Japan.	IV Light
174 km (108 mi) SW from epicenter	Yamagata Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
175 km (109 mi) W from epicenter	Sagae Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
182 km (113 mi) NW from epicenter	Hanawa Akita, Japan.	IV Light
183 km (114 mi) N from epicenter	Hachinohe Aomori, Japan.	IV Light
185 km (115 mi) SW from epicenter	Kaminoyama Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
196 km (122 mi) NW from epicenter	Akita Akita, Japan.	IV Light
198 km (123 mi) SW from epicenter	Fukushima Fukushima, Japan.	IV Light
199 km (124 mi) W from epicenter	Sakata Yamagata, Japan.
204 km (127 mi) W from epicenter	Tsuruoka Yamagata, Japan.
211 km (131 mi) SW from epicenter	Yonezawa Yamagata, Japan.	IV Light
231 km (144 mi) SW from epicenter	Kōriyama Fukushima, Japan.	IV Light
234 km (145 mi) NW from epicenter	Hirosaki Aomori, Japan.	IV Light
238 km (148 mi) SW from epicenter	Iwaki Fukushima, Japan.
242 km (150 mi) NW from epicenter	Aomori Aomori, Japan.
292 km (181 mi) SW from epicenter	Hitachi Ibaraki, Japan.
298 km (185 mi) SW from epicenter	Niigata Niigata, Japan.
331 km (206 mi) SW from epicenter	Utsunomiya Tochigi, Japan.
391 km (243 mi) SW from epicenter	Maebashi Gunma, Japan.
403 km (250 mi) SW from epicenter	Saitama Saitama, Japan.
412 km (256 mi) SW from epicenter	Chiba Chiba, Japan.
422 km (262 mi) SW from epicenter	Tokyo Tokyo, Japan.
432 km (268 mi) SW from epicenter	Nagano Nagano, Japan.
437 km (272 mi) SW from epicenter	Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan.
464 km (288 mi) N from epicenter	Sapporo Hokkaido, Japan.
480 km (298 mi) SW from epicenter	Uozu Toyama, Japan.
483 km (300 mi) SW from epicenter	Kōfu Yamanashi, Japan.
493 km (306 mi) SW from epicenter	Gotenba Shizuoka, Japan.
497 km (309 mi) SW from epicenter	Anamizu Ishikawa, Japan.

Earthquake Intensity Map

The graph below overlays a map of the region around the epicenter with earthquake intensity data provided by the US Geographic Survey. The highest intensity level detected for this earthquake is VI.

I Not felt

II Weak

III Weak

IV Light

V Moderate

VI Strong

VII Very Strong

VIII Severe

IX Violent

X Extreme

Earthquake Intensity Map based on Shakemap Data provided by USGS.

Shaking reported by 93 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 93 people have reported shaking in 40 places, all within 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:

Sendai, Miyagi, Japan: 22 people.
Tokyo, Tokio, Japan: 20 people.
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan: 4 people.
Urayasu, Chiba, Japan: 4 people.
Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan: 3 people.
Morioka, Iwate, Japan: 3 people.
Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan: 2 people.
Yamato, Kanagawa, Japan: 2 people.
Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan: 2 people.
Iwate, Iwate, Japan: 1 person.

2 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 2 smaller aftershocks occurred. Just 2 days after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-4.4 was detected 29 km (18 mi) south-east of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 2 smaller foreshocks were detected. Roughly 2 days before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-3.8 was detected nearby this earthquake.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

Detected MAG2.5+ earthquakes within within 100km (62 mi), that occurred in the three days before and after the main shock.
Classification	Magnitude	When	Where
Foreshock	M 3.5	3 days earlier May 13, 2026 03:03 (Tokyo Time)	14 km (9 mi) W from Main Shock.
Foreshock	M 3.8	2 days earlier May 14, 2026 03:02 (Tokyo Time)	64 km (40 mi) S from Main Shock.
Main Shock This Earthquake	M 6.7	May 15, 2026 20:22 (Tokyo Time)	-
Aftershock	M 4.4	2 days later May 17, 2026 11:42 (Tokyo Time)	29 km (18 mi) SE from Main Shock.
Aftershock	M 4.3	2 days later May 17, 2026 18:01 (Tokyo Time)	23 km (15 mi) NE from Main Shock.

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

The chance that a significant earthquake like this one is followed by an even larger earthquake is not so large. On average, scientists estimate a 94% chance that a major earthquake will not be followed by an even larger one. It is still adviced to be aware of this risk

Read: How to Stay Safe during an Earthquake (cdc.gov).

Earthquakes like this are common in the region

Earthquakes of this strength occur quite regularly in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since April 20th, 2026, when a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit 138 km (86 mi) further north-east. An even stronger magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck on December 8th, 2025.

In total, 8 earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.7 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 year.

Sources

Last updated 14/07/26 06:18 (). 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.