Earthquakes in Costa Rica through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 120 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Costa Rica. 16 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.6, four times, most recently on September 5, 2012 (11 km ENE of Hojancha, Costa Rica).
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 deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.4 on May 4, 1910 (Cartago, San Jose), for which NOAA records 700 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 44 here, back to 1579. NOAA records deaths in 20 of the events here, 1,048 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.5 on November 13, 2017 (18 km W of Parrita, Costa Rica). NOAA’s record here begins on March 16, 1579 with an earthquake. It grows thinner going back: 24 of the 44 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 19 tsunamis that began in or off Costa Rica, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 7.3 m, on September 2, 1992. The deadliest, on April 22, 1991, killed 3 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 8 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Costa Rica. The largest was Arenal on July 29, 1968, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 80 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- November 13, 2017Earthquake · M 6.518 km W of Parrita, Costa Rica · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 5, 2012Earthquake · M 7.611 km ENE of Hojancha, Costa Rica · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 2, 1992Tsunami · 7.3 m hereNicaraguaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 22, 1991Earthquake · M 7.634 km S of Limón, Costa Rica · 90 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 22, 1991Tsunami · 3 m hereLimon, Pandora · 3 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 29, 1968Eruption · VEI 3Arenal · 80 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 17, 1963Eruption · VEI 3Irazu · 15 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 21, 1939Earthquake · M 7.64 km WNW of Atenas, Costa RicaUSGS
- July 18, 1934Earthquake · M 7.544 km ESE of Burica, PanamaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 4, 1910Earthquake · M 6.4Cartago, San Jose · 700 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- May 7, 1822Earthquake · M 7.6 (est.)MatinaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 16, 1579EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Costa Rica 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 Costa Rica 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 Costa Rica, 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