Earthquakes in Cameroon through history
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 6 or more in Cameroon from 1900 to October 19, 2026. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 2 in Cameroon, back to 1909.
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 strongest was a magnitude 6.2 on September 12, 1945 (Congo; Central African Republic). NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 1,737 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on April 26, 1909 with an earthquake (Buea). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in Cameroon. The highest water NOAA records here was 75 m, on August 21, 1986. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in Cameroon. The largest was Oku Volcanic Field on August 21, 1986, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 1,700 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- August 21, 1986Eruption · VEI 3Oku Volcanic Field · 1,700 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 21, 1986Tsunami · 75 m hereLake NyosNOAA NCEI
- August 15, 1984EruptionOku Volcanic Field · 37 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 12, 1945Earthquake · M 6.2Congo; Central African RepublicNOAA NCEI
- April 26, 1909EarthquakeBueaNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Cameroon 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 Cameroon, 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