Earthquakes in Bolivia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 38 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Bolivia. 6 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.2 on June 9, 1994 (55 km NNW of Reyes, Bolivia).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 8 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 23 (58 km SW of Atocha, Bolivia). The strongest: magnitude 5.1 on October 9 (72 km SSW of Colchane, Chile).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.6 on May 22, 1998 (25 km NNW of Mizque, Bolivia), for which NOAA records 105 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 21 here, back to 1582. NOAA records deaths in 6 of the events here, 131 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on April 2, 1582 with an earthquake (La Paz). 12 of the 21 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927.
The events
- May 22, 1998Earthquake · M 6.625 km NNW of Mizque, Bolivia · 105 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 9, 1994Earthquake · M 8.255 km NNW of Reyes, Bolivia · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 14, 1959Earthquake · M 7.1136 km E of Iquique, Chile · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 29, 1957Earthquake · M 7.751 km W of Atocha, BoliviaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 25, 1916Earthquake · M 7.5NOAA NCEI
- June 6, 1915Earthquake · M 7.3136 km WSW of Challapata, BoliviaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 23, 1909EarthquakeCochabamba · 15 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 2, 1582EarthquakeLa PazNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Bolivia when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- 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 Bolivia, 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