Earthquakes in Dominican Republic, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 19 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Dominican Republic. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.8 on August 4, 1946 (16 km NNW of Miches, Dominican Republic).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on September 27 (7 km WSW of Guaymate, Dominican Republic).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 1,790 deaths for it. 8 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 1,873 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 1937–1946, with 7 of the 19. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.5 on October 16, 2003 (Moca, Santiago). NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Dominican Republic, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5 m, on August 4, 1946. The deadliest, on August 4, 1946, killed 1,790 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- October 16, 2003Earthquake · M 4.5Moca, SantiagoNOAA NCEI
- June 24, 1984Earthquake · M 6.952 km S of San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 22, 1948Earthquake · M 6.77 km WSW of Samaná, Dominican RepublicUSGS
- April 21, 1948Earthquake · M 7.111 km WNW of Sánchez, Dominican RepublicUSGS
- August 8, 1946Earthquake · M 7.024 km NNW of Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic · 75 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 4, 1946Earthquake · M 7.816 km NNW of Miches, Dominican Republic · 1,790 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 4, 1946Tsunami · 5 m hereNortheastern Coast · 1,790 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Dominican Republic 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 Dominican Republic 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 Dominican Republic, 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