Earthquakes in Malaysia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Malaysia. The strongest was a magnitude 7.1 on February 22, 2026 (57 km NNW of Kota Belud, Malaysia).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5 on October 6 (51 km NNE of Semporna, Malaysia).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6 on June 4, 2015 (14 km WNW of Ranau, Malaysia), for which NOAA records 18 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 3 here, back to 1923. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 94 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on July 26, 1976 with an earthquake (7 km SSW of Lahad Datu, Malaysia). NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached Malaysia with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4 m, on December 26, 2004. The deadliest here came on December 26, 2004 from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake (Off W. Coast Of Sumatra): NOAA’s runup records count 75 deaths in Malaysia.
The events
- February 22, 2026Earthquake · M 7.157 km NNW of Kota Belud, MalaysiaUSGS
- June 4, 2015Earthquake · M 6.014 km WNW of Ranau, Malaysia · 18 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 4 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · 75 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 26, 1991Earthquake · M 4.5Kalimantan: Ranau · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- July 26, 1976Earthquake · M 6.27 km SSW of Lahad Datu, MalaysiaUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 2, 1951Earthquake · M 6.110 km W of Kudat, MalaysiaUSGS
- August 11, 1923Earthquake · M 6.626 km NNW of Lahad Datu, MalaysiaUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Malaysia 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 Malaysia 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 Malaysia, 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