Montenegro

Earthquakes in Montenegro, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Montenegro. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.9 on April 15, 1979 (6 km E of Stari Bar, Montenegro).

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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.

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What the record holds

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 131 deaths for it. 5 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 132 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.1 on January 4, 2018 (9 km NW of Plav, Montenegro). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Montenegro. The highest water NOAA records here was 3 m, on April 15, 1979. The deadliest, on April 15, 1979, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records.

The events

  • January 4, 2018Earthquake · M 5.19 km NW of Plav, MontenegroUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • May 24, 1979Earthquake · M 6.28 km WSW of Budva, MontenegroUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 15, 1979Earthquake · M 6.96 km E of Stari Bar, Montenegro · 131 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • April 15, 1979Tsunami · 3 m hereMontenegro · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • April 9, 1979Earthquake · M 5.3Bar UlcinjNOAA NCEI
  • November 3, 1968Earthquake · M 5.3Montenegro · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Montenegro 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 Montenegro 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 Montenegro, 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

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