Palermo

Earthquakes near Palermo through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Palermo, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. The strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.4 on January 11, 1693 (Sicily, Calabria).

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.1 on December 28, 1908 (The 1908 Messina, Italy Earthquake and Tsunami), for which NOAA records 80,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 14 here, back to 1259. NOAA records deaths in 8 of the events here, 134,577 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6 on September 6, 2002 (34 km NNE of Santa Flavia, Italy). NOAA’s record here begins in 1259 with an earthquake (Trapani). It grows thinner going back: 5 of the 14 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Palermo, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.5 m, on June 23, 2014.

The events

  • June 23, 2014Tsunami · 1.5 m hereMediterranean And Black SeasNOAA NCEI
  • September 6, 2002Earthquake · M 6.034 km NNE of Santa Flavia, Italy · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • December 28, 1908Earthquake · M 7.1The 1908 Messina, Italy Earthquake and Tsunami · 80,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • January 11, 1693Earthquake · M 7.4 (est.)Sicily, Calabria · 54,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • 1259EarthquakeTrapaniNOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Palermo 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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