Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason.

Smaller events in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest.

The 9.1 Tōhoku earthquake was the fourth most powerful ever recorded and triggered a massive tsunami (around 20,000 deaths).

In a very seismically active year, many earthquakes caused damage in Turkey, New Zealand, Myanmar, India and United States.

Note: Aftershocks of the Japan earthquake have not been included unless they are above magnitude 7 or lead to casualties.