Japan — Natural Disaster Report
Asia · Live status: Elevated (5 active events)
Current situation: 5 natural disaster events are currently monitored in Japan, with a worst severity of Moderate. Details, sources and timestamps are listed below.
Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet, and has responded by building the most advanced disaster preparedness system in the world. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, at magnitude 9.1, generated a tsunami reaching run-up heights near 40 metres, killed close to 20,000 people and triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident — the costliest natural disaster ever recorded. The 1995 Kobe earthquake beneath a dense urban area reshaped Japanese building codes. Japan operates nationwide earthquake early warning, which broadcasts alerts seconds before damaging waves arrive and automatically brakes bullet trains. The country also lies in the path of Northwest Pacific typhoons, faces heavy snowfall along the Sea of Japan coast, and monitors more than a hundred active volcanoes including Sakurajima and Mount Fuji.
Live map — Japan
Loading live data… · Marker positions are approximate; severity is labelled in each popup. Sources: USGS, GDACS, NASA EONET, NOAA/NWS, EMSC.
Active alerts & recent events
Latest earthquakes
Near a particular city? Earthquake history near a place · disasters reported near a place · compare Japan's earthquake record with another country.
By hazard in Japan
Each of these has its own page: recent activity, the season it happens in, past events and what to do.
- Earthquakes in Japan
- Hurricanes in Japan
- Tsunamis in Japan
- Volcanic Activities in Japan
- Wildfires in Japan
Risk profile
Earthquakes and tsunamis year-round. Typhoon season roughly July-October, peaking in September. Heavy rain and landslides during the June-July baiu rainy season. Major snowfall December-March on the Sea of Japan side. Volcanic activity continuous under monitoring.
Official emergency authorities
Disaster displacement in Japan
90,796 internal displacements
Largest single event: 79,430 from earthquake, beginning 30 July 2025.
A displacement is a movement, not a person: somebody forced from home more than once in a year is counted more than once. These are movements caused by disasters only — displacement caused by conflict is counted separately and is not included here.
| Hazard | Displacements in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Earthquake | 81,402 |
| Wildfire | 4,802 |
| Flood | 3,657 |
| Storm | 935 |
| Year | Displacements |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 90,796 |
| 2024 | 109,692 |
Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Global Internal Displacement Database. IDMC publishes annually, so the latest year here is the latest they have finalised — not the current one.
River flood forecast — Japan
No chance of exceeding even its 2-year flood flow in this forecast.
GloFAS alert level: Inactive · Peak expected: in 4 days (on 2026-10-23) · forecast of 19 Oct 2026
No chance of exceeding even its 2-year flood flow in this forecast.
GloFAS alert level: Inactive · Peak expected: in 8-10 days (on 2026-10-28) · forecast of 19 Oct 2026
GloFAS forecasts are computer model output, published for information only. They are not a flood warning: only national and regional authorities issue flood warnings for their own area. A reporting point is a place on the model's river network, which may sit a few kilometres from the town it is named after. All 259 rivers →
What this site sees in Japan
| Source | Events here, last 12 months | What it will not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre | 135 | Global for earthquakes, with the best coverage in Europe and the Mediterranean. It publishes nothing about any other hazard. |
| US Geological Survey | 53 | Global for earthquakes above roughly M4.5, and denser where there are more seismometers. It publishes nothing about any other hazard. |
| NASA FIRMS | 21 | Global, but it sees only what the satellite saw on its pass, and thick cloud hides fire. A quiet day here is not evidence that nothing burned. |
| GDACS (European Commission / United Nations) | 5 | Global, but deliberately selective: it alerts on disasters likely to need INTERNATIONAL response. Serious local flooding that a national agency handles alone will not appear here. |
| NASA EONET | 4 | Global and curated rather than automatic, so it is slower than the raw feeds and carries far fewer events. |
| WMO Alert Hub (national weather services) | none | Each warning comes from one country own alerting authority, so the scale is that agency scale and is not comparable between countries. Many agencies publish no coordinates, and those warnings are placed at the centre of the country rather than where the weather is - the area name is the real answer. |
| MeteoAlarm (EUMETNET) | none | Europe only. It publishes no coordinates at all, so every warning here is placed at the centre of its country and the area name is the only reliable indication of where it applies. |
| NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers | none | These two centres warn for the US and Canadian coasts and for the Pacific and Caribbean basins. The Indian Ocean and Mediterranean have their own warning centres, which are not read here. Their routine information statements - the ones that say there is NO tsunami danger - are deliberately not imported, so an empty tsunami list means no threat was issued, not that nothing was checked. |
| NOAA National Hurricane Center | none | The Atlantic and the eastern and central Pacific only. No typhoon in the western Pacific and no cyclone in the Indian Ocean or the southern hemisphere appears here; those come from GDACS and from national services. |
| ReliefWeb (UN OCHA) | none | Global, but it reports on humanitarian RESPONSE. It arrives days after an event rather than during it, and never functions as a warning. |
Not applicable here: US National Weather Service — Covers the United States only. It publishes nothing about any other country, so its absence from a country page is not an outage. ; USGS Volcano Hazards Program — United States volcanoes only - Alaska, Hawaii, the Cascades, Yellowstone, California and the Northern Mariana Islands. It says nothing about Indonesia, Iceland, Italy or anywhere else, so its silence about a foreign eruption is not a judgement about that eruption.
Major historical disasters — Japan
| Event | Type | Date | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami | Tsunami | Mar 11, 2011 | 19,759 |
| 1995 Great Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake | Earthquake | Jan 17, 1995 | 6,434 |
Frequently asked questions
What natural disasters are currently active in Japan?
There are currently 5 monitored natural disaster events in Japan. The overall risk status is Elevated. See the live list on this page for details and sources.
What natural hazards does Japan face?
Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet, and has responded by building the most advanced disaster preparedness system in the world. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, at magnitude 9.1, generated a tsunami reaching run-up heights near 40 metres, killed close to 20,000 people and triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident — the costliest natural disaster ever recorded.
When is the main natural disaster season in Japan?
Earthquakes and tsunamis year-round. Typhoon season roughly July-October, peaking in September. Heavy rain and landslides during the June-July baiu rainy season. Major snowfall December-March on the Sea of Japan side. Volcanic activity continuous under monitoring. Seasons shift from year to year; treat these as the usual pattern, not a forecast.
Which official agency issues disaster warnings in Japan?
Official warnings for Japan are issued by Japan Meteorological Agency. The link is on this page. This site aggregates and reports; it does not issue warnings, and in an emergency the national agency is the authority.
What is the deadliest recorded natural disaster in Japan?
Of the events documented on this site, the deadliest in Japan is the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami (2011), with around 19,759 deaths. Including missing; National Police Agency figures. This is drawn from documented records held here and is not a complete historical archive.
Where does this disaster data for Japan come from?
Data is aggregated from official sources including USGS, GDACS (EC/UN), NASA EONET, ReliefWeb and national agencies. Every event links to its original source, and update times are shown on each record.
Data sources: USGS, GDACS (EC/UN), NASA EONET, NOAA/NWS, EMSC, ReliefWeb (UN OCHA). See data sources & attribution and methodology. This page does not replace official emergency guidance.