Earthquakes near Catbalogan, 1927–2026

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.5 on July 6, 2017 (2 km S of Lim-oo, Philippines), for which NOAA records 4 deaths. 8 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 10 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 1987–1996, with 10 of the 28. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on August 18, 2020 (13 km E of San Pedro, Philippines). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Catbalogan, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 2 m, on April 21, 1995. The deadliest here came on October 31, 1975 from a magnitude 7.6 earthquake (Philippine Trench): NOAA’s runup records count one death within 100 km of Catbalogan.

• August 18, 2020Earthquake · M 6.613 km E of San Pedro, Philippines · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• July 6, 2017Earthquake · M 6.52 km S of Lim-oo, Philippines · 4 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 21, 1995Tsunami · 2 m hereSamar IslandNOAA NCEI
• February 24, 1988Earthquake · M 7.337 km ESE of Bato, PhilippinesUSGS
• October 31, 1975Tsunami · 3 m highPhilippine Trench · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• May 3, 1943Earthquake · M 7.418 km ENE of Bagacay, PhilippinesUSGS

• An event counts for Catbalogan 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