Chiquimula

Earthquakes near Chiquimula through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Chiquimula, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.9 on May 30, 1776.

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.5 on February 4, 1976 (7 km N of Los Amates, Guatemala), for which NOAA records 23,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 18 here, back to 1717. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 25,639 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.7 on July 29, 2025 (6 km SE of Comapa, Guatemala). NOAA’s record here begins on September 29, 1717 with an earthquake (Antigua). 12 of the 18 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Chiquimula. It reached 0.12 m, on February 4, 1976.

The events

  • July 29, 2025Earthquake · M 5.76 km SE of Comapa, Guatemala · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • February 4, 1976Earthquake · M 7.57 km N of Los Amates, Guatemala · 23,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • February 4, 1976Tsunami · 0.12 m highGuatemalaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • September 7, 1915Earthquake · M 7.712 km NW of Chalatenango, El Salvador · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • May 30, 1776Earthquake · M 7.9 (est.)NOAA NCEI
  • September 29, 1717Earthquake · M 7.4 (est.)AntiguaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • An event counts for Chiquimula 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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