Santo Domingo de los Colorados

Earthquakes near Santo Domingo de los Colorados, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 6 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.8, twice: on May 14, 1942 (12 km SE of Pedernales, Ecuador) and on April 16, 2016 (27 km SSE of Muisne, Ecuador).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Santo Domingo de los Colorados in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.2 on March 6, 1987 (29 km SSE of Pimampiro, Ecuador), for which NOAA records 5,000 deaths. 13 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 10 of the events here, 5,820 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.9 on May 18, 2016 (24 km NW of Rosa Zarate, Ecuador). NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of one volcano within 100 km of Santo Domingo de los Colorados. The largest was Guagua Pichincha on October 5, 1999, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 2 people by NOAA’s count.

The events

  • May 18, 2016Earthquake · M 6.924 km NW of Rosa Zarate, Ecuador · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 16, 2016Earthquake · M 7.827 km SSE of Muisne, Ecuador · 663 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • October 5, 1999Eruption · VEI 3Guagua Pichincha · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • March 6, 1987Earthquake · M 7.229 km SSE of Pimampiro, Ecuador · 5,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • May 14, 1942Earthquake · M 7.812 km SE of Pedernales, EcuadorUSGS

Good to know

  • An event counts for Santo Domingo de los Colorados 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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