Esmeraldas

Earthquakes near Esmeraldas through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 30 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Esmeraldas, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. One stands far above the rest: a magnitude 8.8 on January 31, 1906 (1906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake). The next strongest reached 7.8.

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 7.7 on August 16, 1868 (Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo), for which NOAA records 70,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 18 here, back to 1556. NOAA records deaths in 10 of the events here, 72,396 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on April 25, 2025 (19 km NE of Esmeraldas, Ecuador). NOAA’s record here begins on October 17, 1556 with an earthquake. It grows thinner going back: 12 of the 18 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Esmeraldas. The highest of them reached 6 m, on December 12, 1979. The deadliest, on January 19, 1958, killed 4 people here by NOAA’s runup records.

The events

  • April 25, 2025Earthquake · M 6.319 km NE of Esmeraldas, EcuadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • December 12, 1979Tsunami · 6 m highOff Shore, Pacific OceanNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • January 19, 1958TsunamiColombia-Ecuador · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • May 14, 1942Earthquake · M 7.812 km SE of Pedernales, EcuadorUSGS
  • January 31, 1906Earthquake · M 8.81906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake · 1,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 16, 1868Earthquake · M 7.7 (est.)Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo · 70,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • October 17, 1556Earthquake · M 7.6 (est.)NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Esmeraldas 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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