Cebu City

Earthquakes near Cebu City through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 8 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Cebu City, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.9 on May 13, 1897 (Masbate Island).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Cebu City in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.1 on October 15, 2013 (4 km SE of Sagbayan, Philippines), for which NOAA records 222 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 9 here, back to 1897. NOAA records deaths in 6 of the events here, 434 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.9 on September 30, 2025 (8 km ESE of Calape, Philippines). NOAA’s record here begins on May 13, 1897 with an earthquake (Masbate Island). 4 of the 9 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Cebu City, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5 m, on February 6, 2012. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Cebu City. The largest was Kanlaon on June 3, 2024, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Cebu City 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

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