Greece

Earthquakes in Greece, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 120 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Greece. 10 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on July 9, 1956 (19 km SSE of Amorgós, Greece).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.

The latest: magnitude 4.6 on October 16 (6 km NNE of Sámi, Greece).

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.8 on August 12, 1953 (15 km ENE of Póros, Greece), for which NOAA records 476 deaths. 119 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 49 of the events here, 1,630 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on March 8, 2026 (1 km NW of Rodotópi, Greece). NOAA lists 49 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 20 m, on July 9, 1956. The deadliest, on July 9, 1956, killed 3 people here by NOAA’s runup records.

The events

  • March 8, 2026Earthquake · M 5.51 km NW of Rodotópi, GreeceUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 25, 1957Earthquake · M 7.334 km S of Sarigerme, Turkey · 18 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • July 9, 1956Earthquake · M 7.719 km SSE of Amorgós, Greece · 56 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • July 9, 1956Tsunami · 20 m hereCyclades · 3 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 12, 1953Earthquake · M 6.815 km ENE of Póros, Greece · 476 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • July 23, 1949Earthquake · M 7.29 km NNW of Karaburun, Turkey · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • February 9, 1948Earthquake · M 7.315 km NNW of Karpathos, GreeceUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • October 6, 1947Earthquake · M 7.34 km WNW of Koróni, Greece · 3 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 23, 1933Earthquake · M 6.414 km E of Kardámaina, Greece · 181 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • September 26, 1932Earthquake · M 6.97 km NNE of Ágios Nikólaos, Greece · 161 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • 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

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