San Juan

Earthquakes near San Juan through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of San Juan, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. The strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on July 29, 1943 (45 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico).

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The last 30 days · as of

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

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.1 on October 11, 1918 (24 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico), for which NOAA records 144 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 11 here, back to 1717. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 172 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on May 2, 2020 (6 km S of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico). NOAA’s record here begins in 1717 with an earthquake (Arecibo). 7 of the 11 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began within 100 km of San Juan, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 6.1 m, on November 18, 1867.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for San Juan 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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