Earthquakes in Colombia, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 452 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Colombia. The strongest was a magnitude 7.4 on August 10, 2026 (4 km SSW of San José del Palmar, Colombia).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 7 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 16 (51 km ESE of Juradó, Colombia). The strongest: magnitude 4.8 on October 13 (0 km SW of Cepitá, Colombia).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 4.9 on June 12, 2018 (13 km ESE of Tangua, Colombia), for which NOAA records 2 deaths. 8 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 8 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on June 8, 2025 (15 km NE of Paratebueno, Colombia). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Colombia. The highest water NOAA records here was 8 m, on July 19, 2017.
The events
- August 10, 2026Earthquake · M 7.44 km SSW of San José del Palmar, ColombiaUSGS
- June 8, 2025Earthquake · M 6.315 km NE of Paratebueno, ColombiaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- April 25, 2025Earthquake · M 6.319 km NE of Esmeraldas, EcuadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 17, 2023Earthquake · M 6.110 km E of El Calvario, Colombia · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 25, 2023Earthquake · M 6.545 km NE of Puerto Obaldía, PanamaUSGS
- March 1, 2021Earthquake · M 5.118 km SW of Urrao, Colombia · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 23, 2019Earthquake · M 6.13 km WSW of Versalles, ColombiaUSGS
- June 12, 2018Earthquake · M 4.913 km ESE of Tangua, Colombia · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 19, 2017Tsunami · 8 m hereOff The Coast Near Santa MartaNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Colombia 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 Colombia 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 Colombia, 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