Earthquakes in Brazil, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 25 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Brazil. 4 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 4.6 on February 23, 1968 (Pereiro), for which NOAA records one death. 9 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 5 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.1 on May 19, 2012 (Montes Claros). NOAA lists 9 tsunamis that began in or off Brazil. The highest water NOAA records here was 3 m, on November 19, 2009.
The events
- May 19, 2012Earthquake · M 4.1Montes ClarosNOAA NCEI
- November 19, 2009Tsunami · 3 m herePantano Do Sul, Santa CatarinaNOAA NCEI
- December 9, 2007Earthquake · M 4.6Minas Gerais · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- June 20, 2003Earthquake · M 7.1105 km E of Cruzeiro do Sul, BrazilUSGS
- October 12, 2002Earthquake · M 6.9108 km W of Tarauacá, 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
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