Earthquakes near Reykjavík, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 81 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Reykjavík, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. None reached magnitude 6: the strongest was a magnitude 5.6, twice: on October 20, 2020 (11 km SW of Álftanes, Iceland) and on February 24, 2021 (6 km SE of Vogar, Iceland).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Reykjavík in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
2023 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 37 of the 81. 18 came in the 30 days after a magnitude 5.3 on November 10, 2023 (3 km SSE of Vogar, Iceland), within 150 km of it. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano within 100 km of Reykjavík. The deadliest was Reykjanes on December 18, 2023, which killed one person by NOAA’s count.
The events
Good to know
- An event counts for Reykjavík 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 are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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