The earthquake caused a tsunami which struck the west coast of North America and the coast of Japan.[3] Japanese tsunami records, along with reconstructions of the wave moving across the ocean, put the earthquake at about 9:00 PM Pacific Time on the evening of 26 January 1700.[4]

The earthquake took place at about 21:00 PT on January 26, 1700 (NS). Although there are no written records for the region from the time, the timing of the earthquake has been inferred from Japanese records of a tsunami that does not correlate with any other Pacific Rim quake.