The epicenter was located offshore, 290 kilometres (180 mi) east of the city of Kamaishi, Iwate.

[2] It was in approximately the same location as the 1896 Sanriku earthquake and it occurred far enough away from the town that shaking did little damage.

[3] This was an intraplate event that occurred within the Pacific plate,[4] and the focal mechanism showed normal faulting.

The tsunami was also recorded in Hawaii with a height of 9.5 feet (2.9 m), and also resulted in slight damage.

Hardest hit was the town of Tarō, Iwate (now part of Miyako city), with 98% of its houses destroyed and 42% of its population killed.