Earthquakes in Cayman Islands, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 23 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Cayman Islands. The strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on January 28, 2020 (123 km NNW of Lucea, Jamaica).
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
2 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. 2020 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 12 of the 23. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.6 on February 8, 2025 (210 km SSW of George Town, Cayman Islands). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Cayman Islands. The highest of them reached 0.11 m, on January 28, 2020.
The events
- February 8, 2025Earthquake · M 7.6210 km SSW of George Town, Cayman IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 16, 2021Earthquake · M 5.473 km SSW of George Town, Cayman IslandsUSGS
- January 28, 2020Earthquake · M 7.7123 km NNW of Lucea, JamaicaUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 28, 2020Earthquake · M 6.155 km SE of East End, Cayman IslandsUSGS
- January 28, 2020Earthquake · M 5.440 km SSE of East End, Cayman IslandsUSGS
- January 28, 2020Tsunami · 0.11 m highOff Se Coast Of CubaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Cayman 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 Cayman Islands is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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 Cayman 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