Earthquakes in Colombia, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 70 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Colombia. 9 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8 on July 31, 1970 (95 km N of San Antonio del Estrecho, Peru).
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 6.1 on January 25, 1999 (Near Armenia, Colombia), for which NOAA records 1,185 deaths. 50 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 37 of the events here, 26,974 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 1987–1996, with 18 of the 70. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on June 8, 2025 (15 km NE of Paratebueno, Colombia). NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Colombia. The highest water NOAA records here was 8 m, on July 19, 2017. The deadliest, on December 12, 1979, killed 36 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 7 significant eruptions of 5 volcanoes in or off Colombia. The largest was Ruiz, Nevado del on November 13, 1985, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 23,080 people by NOAA’s count.
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
- July 19, 2017Tsunami · 8 m hereOff The Coast Near Santa MartaNOAA NCEI
- September 30, 2012Earthquake · M 7.311 km WNW of San Agustín, ColombiaUSGS
- January 25, 1999Earthquake · M 6.1Near Armenia, Colombia · 1,185 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 6, 1994Earthquake · M 6.823 km E of Toribío, Colombia · 650 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 13, 1985Eruption · VEI 3Ruiz, Nevado del · 23,080 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 12, 1979Earthquake · M 7.756 km NW of Valdez, Ecuador · 600 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 12, 1979Tsunami · 6 m hereOff Shore, Pacific Ocean · 36 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 31, 1970Earthquake · M 8.095 km N of San Antonio del Estrecho, Peru · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 19, 1958Earthquake · M 7.6near the coast of Ecuador · 115 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
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 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 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