Oaxaca

Earthquakes near Oaxaca through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 25 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Oaxaca, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 19 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8.6 on March 28, 1787 (San Marcos, Oaxaca).

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.5 on September 30, 1999 (15 km W of San Baltazar Loxicha, Mexico), for which NOAA records 35 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 47 here, back to 1604. NOAA records deaths in 17 of the events here, 218 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.4 on June 23, 2020 (9 km SE of Santa María Xadani, Mexico). NOAA’s record here begins on March 15, 1604 with an earthquake (Oaxaca). 28 of the 47 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927.

The events

  • June 23, 2020Earthquake · M 7.49 km SE of Santa María Xadani, Mexico · 10 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • September 30, 1999Earthquake · M 7.515 km W of San Baltazar Loxicha, Mexico · 35 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • January 24, 1899Earthquake · M 8.4 (est.)Guerrero-OaxacaNOAA NCEI
  • March 28, 1787Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)San Marcos, Oaxaca · 11 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • March 15, 1604EarthquakeOaxacaNOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Oaxaca 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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