Earthquakes in Ecuador through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 97 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Ecuador. 13 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.8 on January 31, 1906 (1906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.2 on October 16 (off the coast of Ecuador). The strongest: magnitude 5.4 on October 15 (off the coast of Ecuador).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 7.7 on August 16, 1868 (Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo), for which NOAA records 70,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 76 here, back to 1011 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 43 of the events here, 141,590 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on April 25, 2025 (19 km NE of Esmeraldas, Ecuador). NOAA’s record here begins in 1011 BCE with an eruption (Tungurahua). It grows thinner going back: 44 of the 76 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 9 tsunamis that began in or off Ecuador, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 6.12 m, on March 11, 2011. The deadliest, on January 19, 1958, killed 4 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 26 significant eruptions of 8 volcanoes in or off Ecuador. The largest was Quilotoa in 1280, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Tungurahua in 1640, which killed 5,000 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- April 25, 2025Earthquake · M 6.319 km NE of Esmeraldas, EcuadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 11, 2011Tsunami · 6.12 m hereHonshu IslandNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 19, 1958TsunamiColombia-Ecuador · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 14, 1942Earthquake · M 7.9Guayaquil · 200 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 28, 1906Earthquake · M 7.9NOAA NCEI
- January 31, 1906Earthquake · M 8.81906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake · 1,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 16, 1868Earthquake · M 7.7 (est.)Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo · 70,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- August 15, 1868Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)El Angel, ConcepcionNOAA NCEI
- February 4, 1797Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)Riobamba, Quito, Cuzco; Peru; Colombia · 40,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 20, 1698Earthquake · M 7.7 (est.)Tungurahua,Cotopaxi,Chimborazo · 6,500 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1640Eruption · VEI 3Tungurahua · 5,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1280Eruption · VEI 6QuilotoaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1011 BCEEruption · VEI 5TungurahuaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Ecuador 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 Ecuador 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 Ecuador, 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