Earthquakes in Cyprus, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 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: a magnitude 6.3 on September 10, 1953 (9 km WSW of Paphos, Cyprus), for which NOAA records 40 deaths. 4 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 45 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on January 11, 2022 (48 km WNW of Pólis, Cyprus). NOAA lists 2 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
- February 23, 1995Earthquake · M 5.9Paphos, Nicosia, Arodhes, Peristerona · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 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
- January 20, 1941TsunamiLevantian SeaNOAA 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