Earthquakes in Cyprus through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Cyprus. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.8 on October 9, 1996 (36 km SW of Paphos, Cyprus).
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: an earthquake on April 10, 1735 (Nicosia), for which NOAA records 200 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 10 here, back to 27 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 245 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on January 11, 2022 (48 km WNW of Pólis, Cyprus). NOAA’s record here begins in 27 BCE with an earthquake. It grows thinner going back: 4 of the 10 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Cyprus.
The events
- January 11, 2022Earthquake · M 6.648 km WNW of Pólis, Cyprus · 3 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 9, 1996Earthquake · M 6.836 km SW of Paphos, CyprusUSGS
- September 10, 1953Earthquake · M 6.39 km WSW of Paphos, Cyprus · 40 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 20, 1941Earthquake · M 6.04 km SSE of Lefkónoiko, CyprusUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 18, 1924Earthquake · M 6.145 km SSE of Ayia Napa, CyprusUSGS
- April 10, 1735EarthquakeNicosia · 200 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 24 BCETsunamiAlexandriaNOAA NCEI
- 27 BCEEarthquakeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Cyprus 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 Cyprus 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 Cyprus, 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