British Virgin Islands

Earthquakes in British Virgin Islands through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off British Virgin Islands. One stands far above the rest: an estimated magnitude 7.3 on November 18, 1867. The next strongest reached 6.3.

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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.

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What the record holds

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 24 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 6 here, back to 1837. The latest on NOAA’s list is an earthquake on March 11, 1874. NOAA’s record here begins on August 2, 1837 with an earthquake. 6 of the 6 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began in or off British Virgin Islands. The highest water NOAA records here was 3.6 m, on November 18, 1867.

The events

  • October 11, 2008Earthquake · M 6.191 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin IslandsUSGS
  • July 8, 1970Earthquake · M 6.122 km NNE of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin IslandsUSGS
  • September 6, 1919Earthquake · M 6.2131 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin IslandsUSGS
  • February 16, 1906Earthquake · M 6.3121 km NNW of The Valley, AnguillaUSGS
  • March 11, 1874EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
  • November 18, 1867Earthquake · M 7.3 (est.)24 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • November 18, 1867Tsunami · 3.6 m hereVirgin IslandsNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 2, 1837EarthquakeNOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for British Virgin Islands 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 British Virgin Islands 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 British Virgin Islands, 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

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