Earthquakes in Brazil through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 27 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Brazil. 5 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.6 on November 9, 1963 (132 km SW of Tarauacá, Brazil).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 15 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 5.3 on October 11 (28 km SSW of Camaná, Peru).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 5.1 on January 27, 1922 (Sao Paulo), for which NOAA records one death. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 13 here, back to 1666. NOAA records deaths in 7 of the events here, 9 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.1 on May 19, 2012 (Montes Claros). NOAA’s record here begins in 1666 with an earthquake (Salvador). It grows thinner going back: 9 of the 13 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 11 tsunamis that began in or off Brazil, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3 m, on November 19, 2009. The deadliest here came on November 1, 1755 from a magnitude 8.5 earthquake (Lisbon): NOAA’s runup records count 3 deaths in Brazil.
The events
- May 19, 2012Earthquake · M 4.1Montes ClarosNOAA NCEI
- November 19, 2009Tsunami · 3 m herePantano Do Sul, Santa CatarinaNOAA NCEI
- June 20, 2003Earthquake · M 7.1105 km E of Cruzeiro do Sul, BrazilUSGS
- May 5, 1989Earthquake · M 7.169 km W of Tarauacá, BrazilUSGS
- November 30, 1986Earthquake · M 4.8Joao Camara, Natal · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- February 23, 1968Earthquake · M 4.6Pereiro · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- February 15, 1967Earthquake · M 7.0124 km SSW of Tarauacá, BrazilUSGS
- November 9, 1963Earthquake · M 7.6132 km SW of Tarauacá, BrazilUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 27, 1922Earthquake · M 5.1Sao Paulo · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 28, 1911Earthquake · M 7.4128 km SSW of Tarauacá, BrazilUSGS
- November 1, 1755Tsunami · 18.3 m highLisbon · 3 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1666EarthquakeSalvadorNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Brazil 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 Brazil 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 Brazil, 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