Lima

Earthquakes near Lima through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 6 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Lima, 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 8.6 on October 20, 1609.

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in 1657 (Lima,Callao), for which NOAA records 11,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 39 here, back to 1555. NOAA records deaths in 18 of the events here, 33,881 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on June 15, 2025 (37 km WSW of Callao, Peru). NOAA’s record here begins on November 15, 1555 with an earthquake. 27 of the 39 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 14 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Lima, and 10 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 26 m, on July 10, 1586. The deadliest, on October 29, 1746, killed 4,800 people here by NOAA’s runup records.

The events

  • June 15, 2025Earthquake · M 5.637 km WSW of Callao, Peru · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • October 29, 1746Tsunami · 24 m hereCentral Peru · 4,800 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • 1657EarthquakeLima,Callao · 11,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • October 20, 1609Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)NOAA NCEI
  • July 10, 1586Earthquake · M 8.5 (est.)Lima · 22 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • July 10, 1586Tsunami · 26 m hereCentral PeruNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • November 15, 1555Earthquake · M 8.4 (est.)NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Lima 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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