Earthquakes near León through history

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.3 on December 23, 1972 (10 km N of Managua, Nicaragua), for which NOAA records 10,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 31 here, back to 4051 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 12,810 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on September 28, 2016 (Leon). NOAA’s record here begins in 4051 BCE with an eruption (Masaya). It grows thinner going back: 22 of the 31 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached the coast within 100 km of León with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 9.9 m, on September 2, 1992. The deadliest here came on September 2, 1992 from a magnitude 7.6 earthquake (Nicaragua): NOAA’s runup records count 66 deaths within 100 km of León. NOAA lists 6 significant eruptions of 5 volcanoes within 100 km of León. The largest was Masaya in 4051 BCE, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index.

• September 28, 2016Earthquake · M 5.5Leon · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• September 2, 1992Earthquake · M 7.783 km SSW of Corinto, Nicaragua · 170 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 2, 1992Tsunami · 9.9 m hereNicaragua · 66 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• December 23, 1972Earthquake · M 6.310 km N of Managua, Nicaragua · 10,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 29, 1898Earthquake · M 7.9 (est.)Leon, Chinandega, ManaguaNOAA NCEI
• 4051 BCEEruption · VEI 6MasayaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for León 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