Earthquakes in Guam through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 41 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Guam. 7 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.8 on August 8, 1993 (32 km S of Inarajan Village, Guam).
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
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 12 here, back to 1809. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.1 on April 26, 2002 (20 km SSW of Merizo Village, Guam). NOAA’s record here begins in 1809 with an earthquake. 7 of the 12 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Guam, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 6.1 m, on January 25, 1849. The deadliest, on January 25, 1849, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- April 26, 2002Earthquake · M 7.120 km SSW of Merizo Village, GuamUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 8, 1993Earthquake · M 7.832 km S of Inarajan Village, GuamUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 28, 1931Earthquake · M 7.2265 km S of Merizo Village, GuamUSGS
- May 9, 1917Earthquake · M 7.1261 km S of Merizo Village, GuamUSGS
- May 16, 1892Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- January 25, 1849Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- January 25, 1849Tsunami · 6.1 m hereGuam, Mariana Islands · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 1809EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Guam 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 Guam 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 Guam, 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