Puerto Vallarta

Earthquakes near Puerto Vallarta through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Puerto Vallarta, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on June 3, 1932 (1932 Jalisco, Mexico Earthquake).

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 400 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 9 here, back to AD 930. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 500 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.7 on June 22, 1932 (12 km NNE of La Central, Mexico). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 930 with an eruption (Ceboruco). NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Puerto Vallarta, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 10 m, on June 3, 1932. The deadliest here came on June 3, 1932 from a magnitude 8.1 earthquake (Central Mexico): NOAA’s runup records count 4 deaths within 100 km of Puerto Vallarta. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano within 100 km of Puerto Vallarta. The largest was Ceboruco in AD 930, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index.

The events

  • June 22, 1932Earthquake · M 7.712 km NNE of La Central, Mexico · 75 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • June 3, 1932Earthquake · M 8.11932 Jalisco, Mexico Earthquake · 400 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • June 3, 1932Tsunami · 10 m hereCentral Mexico · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • AD 930Eruption · VEI 6CeborucoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • An event counts for Puerto Vallarta 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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