Laos
Earthquakes in Laos, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 16 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Laos. The strongest was a magnitude 6.2 on November 20, 2019 (43 km WNW of Sainyabuli, Laos).
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
2021 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 8 of the 16.
The events
- December 24, 2021Earthquake · M 5.788 km NNW of Phôngsali, LaosUSGS
- December 19, 2021Earthquake · M 5.553 km NW of Sainyabuli, LaosUSGS
- July 7, 2021Earthquake · M 4.753 km NE of Chiang Klang, ThailandUSGS
- November 20, 2019Earthquake · M 6.243 km WNW of Sainyabuli, LaosUSGS
- November 20, 2019Earthquake · M 5.744 km ENE of Chiang Klang, ThailandUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Laos 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 Laos is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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 Laos, 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