Tauranga

Earthquakes near Tauranga through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Tauranga, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. The strongest was a magnitude 7.3 on February 13, 1931 (40 km E of Waiouru, New Zealand).

Open the live map

The last 30 days · as of

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

Live
Open the live map

What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 5.4 on July 18, 2004 (North Island: Rotorua, Tauranga), for which NOAA records one death. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 3 here, back to 1877. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 196 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on June 10, 1886 with an eruption (Okataina). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Tauranga, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 2.32 m, on May 22, 1960. NOAA lists 7 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes within 100 km of Tauranga. The largest was Okataina on June 10, 1886, at 5 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 153 people by NOAA’s count.

The events

  • July 18, 2004Earthquake · M 5.4North Island: Rotorua, Tauranga · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • May 22, 1960Tsunami · 2.32 m hereSouthern ChileNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • February 13, 1931Earthquake · M 7.340 km E of Waiouru, New ZealandUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • November 22, 1914Earthquake · M 7.044 km N of Whakatane, New ZealandUSGS
  • June 10, 1886Eruption · VEI 5Okataina · 153 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • An event counts for Tauranga 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

Other places nearby