Quito

Earthquakes near Quito through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 13 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Quito, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 7 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.8 on January 31, 1906 (1906 Ecuador-Colombia 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 Quito in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 7.7 on August 16, 1868 (Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo), for which NOAA records 70,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 37 here, back to 456 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 14 of the events here, 124,543 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.8 on April 16, 2016 (27 km SSE of Muisne, Ecuador). NOAA’s record here begins in 456 BCE with an eruption (Cotopaxi). It grows thinner going back: 14 of the 37 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 11 significant eruptions of 4 volcanoes within 100 km of Quito. The largest was Quilotoa in 1280, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index.

The events

  • April 16, 2016Earthquake · M 7.827 km SSE of Muisne, Ecuador · 663 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • January 31, 1906Earthquake · M 8.81906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake · 1,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 16, 1868Earthquake · M 7.7 (est.)Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo · 70,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • February 4, 1797Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)Riobamba, Quito, Cuzco; Peru; Colombia · 40,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • 1280Eruption · VEI 6QuilotoaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • 456 BCEEruption · VEI 4CotopaxiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • An event counts for Quito 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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