Earthquakes in Madagascar, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Madagascar. The strongest was a magnitude 6.2 on May 10, 1950 (231 km SE of Mozambique, Mozambique).
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 5.5 on January 11, 2017 (41 km SSW of Betafo, Madagascar), for which NOAA records 2 deaths. One earthquake here in these years is on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 9 in all. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis from elsewhere that reached Madagascar with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5.4 m, on December 26, 2004. The deadliest here came on March 28, 2005 from a magnitude 8.6 earthquake (Indonesia): NOAA’s runup records count 6 deaths in Madagascar.
The events
- January 11, 2017Earthquake · M 5.541 km SSW of Betafo, Madagascar · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 28, 2005Tsunami · 4.2 m highIndonesia · 6 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 5.4 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 10, 1950Earthquake · M 6.2231 km SE of Mozambique, MozambiqueUSGS
- March 29, 1943Earthquake · M 6.190 km S of Maintirano, MadagascarUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Madagascar 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 Madagascar 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 Madagascar, 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