Earthquakes in Germany through history
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 6 or more in Germany from 1900 to October 19, 2026. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 8 in Germany, back to 1510.
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
None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 5.3 on September 3, 1978. The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on June 10, 1510 (Bavaria: Nordlingen), for which NOAA records 2,000 deaths. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 2,019 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 3.6 on May 17, 2014 (Hesse). NOAA’s record here begins on June 10, 1510 with an earthquake (Bavaria: Nordlingen). It grows thinner going back: 5 of the 8 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached Germany with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3.6 m, on June 5, 1858.
The events
- May 17, 2014Earthquake · M 3.6HesseNOAA NCEI
- December 5, 2004Earthquake · M 4.8Emmendingen, Freiburg Im BreisgauNOAA NCEI
- March 22, 2003Earthquake · M 4.7AlbstadtNOAA NCEI
- July 22, 2002Earthquake · M 4.8Aachen, Cologne, SpangdahlemNOAA NCEI
- September 3, 1978Earthquake · M 5.3NOAA NCEI
- June 5, 1858Tsunami · 3.6 m hereNorth SeaNOAA NCEI
- December 22, 1689EarthquakeInnsbruck; Germany: Augsburg · 19 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- June 10, 1510EarthquakeBavaria: Nordlingen · 2,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Germany when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- 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 Germany, 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