Earthquakes in Azerbaijan through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Azerbaijan. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.9, twice: in November 1667 (Shemakha (Samaxi)) and on February 13, 1902 (Semacha; N Iran).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 1 (8 km ENE of Zaqatala, Azerbaijan).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in 1139 (Gyzndzha), for which NOAA records 230,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 20 here, back to AD 427. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 319,251 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on February 5, 2019 (Shemakha (Semacha)). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 427 with an earthquake. It grows thinner going back: 8 of the 20 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Azerbaijan. The highest of them reached 0.45 m, on April 26, 1868.
The events
- February 5, 2019Earthquake · M 5.0Shemakha (Semacha)NOAA NCEI
- November 25, 2000Earthquake · M 6.815 km SSE of Baku, Azerbaijan · 31 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 16, 1989Earthquake · M 6.5USGS
- February 13, 1902Earthquake · M 6.9Semacha; N Iran · 2,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 26, 1868Tsunami · 0.45 m highCaspian SeaNOAA NCEI
- January 14, 1668Earthquake · M 6.0 (est.)Shemakha (Semacha) · 7,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- November 1667Earthquake · M 6.9 (est.)Shemakha (Samaxi) · 80,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1139EarthquakeGyzndzha · 230,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 427Earthquake · M 6.7 (est.)NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Azerbaijan 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 Azerbaijan 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 Azerbaijan, 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