Earthquakes in Australia, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 132 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Australia. The strongest was a magnitude 6.9 on May 19, 2022 (Macquarie Island region).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 13 (western Indian-Antarctic Ridge). The strongest: magnitude 5.5 on October 8 (west of Macquarie Island).
What the record holds
One earthquake here in these years is on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records no deaths for it. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.9 on September 21, 2021 (39 km S of Mount Buller, Australia). NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached Australia with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 1 m, on January 15, 2022.
The events
- April 29, 2025Earthquake · M 6.8Macquarie Island regionUSGS
- May 19, 2022Earthquake · M 6.9Macquarie Island regionUSGS
- January 15, 2022Tsunami · 1 m hereTonga IslandsNOAA NCEI
- September 21, 2021Earthquake · M 5.939 km S of Mount Buller, AustraliaUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 14, 2019Earthquake · M 6.6198 km W of Cable Beach, AustraliaUSGS
- March 1, 2019Earthquake · M 5.9Macquarie Island regionUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Australia 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 Australia is the nearest country.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around Australia, 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