Earthquakes near Kotamobagu through history

The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 7 on February 8, 1845 (N Sulawesi: Menado, Tikala, Tomohon), for which NOAA records 118 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 11 here, back to 1775. NOAA records deaths in 6 of the events here, 131 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.5 on June 20, 1991 (79 km NNW of Gorontalo, Indonesia). NOAA’s record here begins in 1775 with an eruption (Lokon-Empung). 5 of the 11 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Kotamobagu, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 2.5 m, on September 6, 1889. NOAA lists 5 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes within 100 km of Kotamobagu. The largest was Lokon-Empung in 1775, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index.

• June 20, 1991Earthquake · M 7.579 km NNW of Gorontalo, IndonesiaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• December 21, 1939Earthquake · M 8.11939 Sulawesi EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• January 22, 1905Earthquake · M 8.4Minahassa PeninsulaNOAA NCEI
• September 6, 1889Tsunami · 2.5 m hereN. Moluccas IslandsNOAA NCEI
• February 8, 1845Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)N Sulawesi: Menado, Tikala, Tomohon · 118 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• 1775Eruption · VEI 3Lokon-EmpungNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Kotamobagu 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