Earthquakes in Greece through history

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in December 856 (Korinthos,Patrai (Patras)), for which NOAA records 45,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 325 here, back to 1611 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 109 of the events here, 117,690 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on March 8, 2026 (1 km NW of Rodotópi, Greece). NOAA’s record here begins in 1611 BCE with an earthquake (Thera Island (Santorini)). It grows thinner going back: 119 of the 325 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 142 tsunamis that began in or off Greece, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 30 m, on September 29, 1650. The deadliest, on July 21, 365, killed 5,000 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 11 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in or off Greece. The largest was Santorini in 1611 BCE, at 7 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Kolumbo on September 29, 1650, which killed 120 people by NOAA’s count.

• March 8, 2026Earthquake · M 5.51 km NW of Rodotópi, GreeceUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• July 9, 1956Earthquake · M 7.719 km SSE of Amorgós, Greece · 56 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• August 11, 1903Earthquake · M 7.9Southern Greece · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
• October 15, 1883Earthquake · M 7.3 (est.)Ayvalik, Izmir, Cesme · 15,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 22, 1863Earthquake · M 7.8 (est.)Rhodes, Kos · 300 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• July 10, 1688Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)Izmir · 16,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 29, 1650Tsunami · 30 m hereThera Island (Santorini)NOAA NCEI
• September 29, 1650Eruption · VEI 4Kolumbo · 120 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• August 8, 1303Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Crete · 4,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• December 856EarthquakeKorinthos,Patrai (Patras) · 45,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• July 21, 365Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Crete: Knossos · 5,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• July 21, 365TsunamiCrete · 5,000 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• 1611 BCEEarthquakeThera Island (Santorini)NOAA NCEI
• 1611 BCEEruption · VEI 7SantoriniNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Greece 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 Greece 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 Greece, 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