Earthquakes near Beersheba through history

The strongest was an estimated magnitude 7.3 in 2151 BCE (Bab-A-Daraa,Al-Karak). The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in 1457 (Palestine; Syria), for which NOAA records 32,000 deaths. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 85,100 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.3 on February 11, 2004 (Ma'in; Israel: Jerusalem, Petah-Tiqwa). NOAA’s record here begins in 2151 BCE with an earthquake (Bab-A-Daraa,Al-Karak). NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Beersheba. The highest water NOAA records here was 1 m, on February 11, 2004.

• February 11, 2004Earthquake · M 5.3Ma'in; Israel: Jerusalem, Petah-TiqwaNOAA NCEI
• February 11, 2004Tsunami · 1 m hereDead SeaNOAA NCEI
• 1457EarthquakePalestine; Syria · 32,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• 32 BCEEarthquake · M 7.0 (est.)Qumran,Ariha (Jericho)NOAA NCEI
• 2151 BCEEarthquake · M 7.3 (est.)Bab-A-Daraa,Al-KarakNOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Beersheba 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