Naples

Earthquakes near Naples through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Naples, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.9 on November 23, 1980 (2 km N of Cairano, Italy).

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on December 5, 1456 (Avellino,Napoli,Abruzzi, Brindisi,Benevento), for which NOAA records 30,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 44 here, back to 2421 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 33 of the events here, 59,762 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.2 on August 21, 2017 (Ischia Island). NOAA’s record here begins in 2421 BCE with an eruption (Vesuvius). It grows thinner going back: 6 of the 44 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 17 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Naples, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 16 m, on February 6, 1783. NOAA lists 22 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes within 100 km of Naples. The largest was Vesuvius in 2421 BCE, at 5 on the volcanic explosivity index.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Naples 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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