Earthquakes in Jamaica through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Jamaica. One stands far above the rest: an estimated magnitude 7.8 on June 14, 1899. The next strongest reached 6.8.
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: an earthquake on June 7, 1692 (Port Royal), for which NOAA records 3,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 19 here, back to 1667. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 4,300 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.7 on November 12, 1988 (St Andrew, Jacks Hill). NOAA’s record here begins in 1667 with an earthquake. 18 of the 19 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Jamaica. The highest water NOAA records here was 2.5 m, on January 14, 1907. The deadliest, on June 7, 1692, killed 2,000 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- November 12, 1988Earthquake · M 4.7St Andrew, Jacks HillNOAA NCEI
- April 7, 1941Earthquake · M 6.882 km SW of Black River, JamaicaUSGS
- August 22, 1907Earthquake · M 6.223 km NNE of Ocho Rios, JamaicaUSGS
- January 14, 1907Earthquake · M 6.258 km NNE of Port Antonio, Jamaica · 1,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 14, 1907Tsunami · 2.5 m hereJamaicaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 15, 1905Earthquake · M 6.355 km N of Falmouth, JamaicaUSGS
- June 14, 1899Earthquake · M 7.8 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- October 3, 1780EarthquakeSavanna La Mar · 300 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- June 7, 1692EarthquakePort Royal · 3,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 7, 1692Tsunami · 1.8 m herePort Royal · 2,000 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1667EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Jamaica 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 Jamaica 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 Jamaica, 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