Earthquakes near Batangas through history

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on January 27, 1911 (Luzon: Taal Volcano), for which NOAA records 1,335 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 44 here, back to 3581 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 2,865 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.9 on April 8, 2017 (1 km NNW of Mabini, Philippines). NOAA’s record here begins in 3581 BCE with an eruption (Taal). It grows thinner going back: 8 of the 44 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 13 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Batangas, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 7.29 m, on November 14, 1994. The deadliest, on September 28, 1965, killed 355 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 9 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Batangas. The largest was Taal in 3581 BCE, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index.

• April 8, 2017Earthquake · M 5.91 km NNW of Mabini, PhilippinesUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• November 14, 1994Tsunami · 7.29 m herePhilippine Islands · 30 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 28, 1965Tsunami · 4.7 m hereTaal, Luzon Island · 355 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• August 20, 1937Earthquake · M 7.66 km E of Tignoan, Philippines · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
• January 27, 1911EarthquakeLuzon: Taal Volcano · 1,335 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• November 30, 1645Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Luzon: S Batangas To N Cagayan · 600 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• 3581 BCEEruption · VEI 6TaalNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Batangas when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history