Earthquakes near Cagayan de Oro, 1927–2026

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.4 on March 31, 1955 (Mindanao, Philippines), for which NOAA records 465 deaths. 6 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 1,485 in all. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis from elsewhere that reached the coast within 100 km of Cagayan de Oro with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.12 m, on February 8, 1990. The deadliest here came on August 16, 1976 from a magnitude 8 earthquake (Moro Gulf): NOAA’s runup records count 222 deaths within 100 km of Cagayan de Oro. NOAA lists 4 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Cagayan de Oro. The largest was Camiguin on December 4, 1951, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 500 people by NOAA’s count.

• December 2, 2023Earthquake · M 7.619 km E of Gamut, Philippines · 3 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• February 8, 1990Tsunami · 1.12 m herePhilippinesNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• August 16, 1976Tsunami · 9 m highMoro Gulf · 222 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• March 31, 1955Earthquake · M 7.4Mindanao, Philippines · 465 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• December 4, 1951Eruption · VEI 3Camiguin · 500 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• June 1949Eruption · VEI 3Camiguin · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Cagayan de Oro 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