Earthquakes in Algeria, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Algeria. The strongest was a magnitude 7.3 on October 10, 1980 (3 km NNE of Chlef, Algeria).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 5,000 deaths for it. 37 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 22 of the events here, 9,127 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6 on March 18, 2021 (21 km NNE of Bejaïa, Algeria). NOAA lists 7 tsunamis that began in or off Algeria. The highest of them reached 7 m, on August 3, 2007.
The events
- March 18, 2021Earthquake · M 6.021 km NNE of Bejaïa, AlgeriaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 3, 2007Tsunami · 7 m highMostaganemNOAA NCEI
- May 21, 2003Earthquake · M 6.825 km WNW of Dellys, Algeria · 2,287 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 10, 1980Earthquake · M 7.33 km NNE of Chlef, Algeria · 5,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 10, 1954Earthquake · M 6.25 km W of Sidi Akkacha, AlgeriaUSGS
- September 9, 1954Earthquake · M 6.7northern Algeria · 1,243 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 9, 1954Earthquake · M 6.7El AsnamNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Algeria when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Algeria is the nearest country.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around Algeria, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- 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