Earthquakes in Ecuador, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 264 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Ecuador. The strongest was a magnitude 7.5 on February 22, 2019 (115 km ESE of Palora, Ecuador).
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: a magnitude 6.8 on March 18, 2023 (14 km NNW of Baláo, Ecuador), for which NOAA records 15 deaths. 7 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 19 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on April 25, 2025 (19 km NE of Esmeraldas, Ecuador). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Ecuador, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.04 m, on July 29, 2025. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Ecuador. The largest was Sangay on March 5, 2021, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- July 29, 2025Tsunami · 1.04 m hereKamchatka Peninsula, RussiaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 25, 2025Earthquake · M 6.319 km NE of Esmeraldas, EcuadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 18, 2023Earthquake · M 6.814 km NNW of Baláo, Ecuador · 15 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 5, 2021Eruption · VEI 2SangayNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 31, 2019Earthquake · M 6.231 km N of Santa Elena, EcuadorUSGS
- February 22, 2019Earthquake · M 7.5115 km ESE of Palora, Ecuador · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 7, 2018Earthquake · M 6.28 km SE of Alausí, EcuadorUSGS
- January 31, 2018Earthquake · M 5.232 km E of Palora, Ecuador · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
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 are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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