Earthquakes in Bangladesh through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Bangladesh. The strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.5 on June 30, 1868 (Sylhet).
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on April 2, 1762 (Chittagong, Dacca, Arracan), for which NOAA records 200 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 17 here, back to 1762. NOAA records deaths in 10 of the events here, 392 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on November 21, 2025 (14 km ESE of Tungi, Bangladesh). NOAA’s record here begins on April 2, 1762 with an earthquake (Chittagong, Dacca, Arracan). It grows thinner going back: 11 of the 17 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Bangladesh, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 2.4 m, on December 26, 2004. The deadliest here came on December 26, 2004 from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake (Off W. Coast Of Sumatra): NOAA’s runup records count 2 deaths in Bangladesh.
The events
- November 21, 2025Earthquake · M 5.414 km ESE of Tungi, Bangladesh · 10 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 2.4 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · 2 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 9, 1923Earthquake · M 6.99 km NNE of Netrakona, Bangladesh · 50 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 30, 1921Earthquake · M 6.4USGS
- July 8, 1918Earthquake · M 7.124 km N of Kishorganj, BangladeshUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 14, 1885Earthquake · M 6.9 (est.)75 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 30, 1868Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)SylhetNOAA NCEI
- April 2, 1762EarthquakeChittagong, Dacca, Arracan · 200 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Bangladesh 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 Bangladesh 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 Bangladesh, 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