Earthquakes in Jordan through history

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on December 5, 1033 (Ramala, Gaza, Nablus; Egypt), for which NOAA records 70,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 10 here, back to 2151 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 73,011 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.3 on February 11, 2004 (Ma'in; Israel: Jerusalem, Petah-Tiqwa). NOAA’s record here begins in 2151 BCE with an earthquake (Bab-A-Daraa,Al-Karak). It grows thinner going back: 2 of the 10 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 6 tsunamis that began in or off Jordan. The highest of them reached 4 m, on November 22, 1995.

• February 11, 2004Earthquake · M 5.3Ma'in; Israel: Jerusalem, Petah-TiqwaNOAA NCEI
• November 22, 1995Earthquake · M 7.227 km SSE of Nuwaybi‘a, Egypt · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• November 22, 1995Tsunami · 4 m highGulf Of Elat-AqabaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• July 11, 1927Earthquake · M 6.1Dead Sea region · 268 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• 1838EarthquakeTel Aviv-Yafo (Jaffa),Palestine · 3,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• May 23, 1834Earthquake · M 6.3 (est.)Al-Karak; Israel: Jerusalem, NabulusNOAA NCEI
• December 5, 1033EarthquakeRamala, Gaza, Nablus; Egypt · 70,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• May 24, 362Earthquake · M 6.4 (est.)Al-KarakNOAA NCEI
• 1051 BCEEarthquake · M 6.2 (est.)Sw: Timna Copper MinesNOAA NCEI
• 2151 BCEEarthquake · M 7.3 (est.)Bab-A-Daraa,Al-KarakNOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Jordan 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 Jordan 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 Jordan, 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