Earthquakes in Honduras through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 25 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Honduras. 5 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on January 13, 2001 (28 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador).
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.2 on May 6, 1951 (Near Jucuapa, El Salvador), for which NOAA records 1,100 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 29 here, back to 1539. NOAA records deaths in 8 of the events here, 2,545 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on May 6, 2018 (10 km S of Intipucá, El Salvador). NOAA’s record here begins on November 24, 1539 with an earthquake (Cabo De Higueras). It grows thinner going back: 19 of the 29 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 9 tsunamis that began in or off Honduras. The highest water NOAA records here was 5 m, on August 4, 1856.
The events
- May 6, 2018Earthquake · M 5.410 km S of Intipucá, El SalvadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 10, 2018Earthquake · M 7.5203 km NNE of Barra Patuca, HondurasUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 14, 2014Earthquake · M 7.374 km S of Intipucá, El Salvador · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 28, 2009Earthquake · M 7.346 km NW of Guanaja, Honduras · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 13, 2001Earthquake · M 7.728 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador · 844 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 6, 1951Earthquake · M 6.2Near Jucuapa, El Salvador · 1,100 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 19, 1936EarthquakeSan Vicente · 400 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- August 4, 1856Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)CoastNOAA NCEI
- August 4, 1856Tsunami · 5 m hereBay Of HondurasNOAA NCEI
- November 24, 1539EarthquakeCabo De HiguerasNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Honduras 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 Honduras 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 Honduras, 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