Earthquakes in Mexico through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 415 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Mexico. 75 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8.6 on March 28, 1787 (San Marcos, Oaxaca).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on October 16 (7 km WSW of Soconusco, Mexico). The strongest: magnitude 4.9 on October 7 (80 km SW of El Arenal, Mexico).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 8 on September 19, 1985 (1985 Michoacan, Mexico Earthquake), for which NOAA records 9,500 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 221 here, back to AD 930. NOAA records deaths in 80 of the events here, 19,141 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.3 on July 17, 2026 (60 km WSW of Puerto Madero, Mexico). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 930 with an eruption (Ceboruco). It grows thinner going back: 99 of the 221 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 69 tsunamis that began in or off Mexico, and 7 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 25 m, on November 14, 1816. The deadliest, on June 22, 1932, killed 75 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 13 significant eruptions of 5 volcanoes in or off Mexico. The largest was Ceboruco in AD 930, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Chichon, El on March 29, 1982, which killed 1,879 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- July 17, 2026Earthquake · M 7.360 km WSW of Puerto Madero, MexicoUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 8, 2017Earthquake · M 8.22017 Tehuantepec, Mexico Earthquake · 98 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 19, 1985Earthquake · M 8.01985 Michoacan, Mexico Earthquake · 9,500 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 29, 1982Eruption · VEI 5Chichon, El · 1,879 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 22, 1932Tsunami · 10 m hereCentral Mexico · 75 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 15, 1907Earthquake · M 8.3Guerrero · 8 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- January 24, 1899Earthquake · M 8.4 (est.)Guerrero-OaxacaNOAA NCEI
- April 7, 1845Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)Mexico CityNOAA NCEI
- May 31, 1818Earthquake · M 8.2 (est.)Morelos-Guerrero,Mexico City,Guadalajara · 2,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- November 14, 1816Tsunami · 25 m hereCentral MexicoNOAA NCEI
- March 25, 1806Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)Jalisco,Oaxaca,Michoacan · 2,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- March 28, 1787Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)San Marcos, Oaxaca · 11 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 930Eruption · VEI 6CeborucoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Mexico 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 Mexico 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 Mexico, 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