Earthquakes in Morocco, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Morocco. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.8 on September 8, 2023 (Al Haouz, Morocco).
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 5.9 on February 29, 1960 (Agadir), for which NOAA records 13,100 deaths. 5 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 16,675 in all. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Morocco. The highest of them reached 0.02 m, on January 25, 2016.
The events
- September 8, 2023Earthquake · M 6.8Al Haouz, Morocco · 2,946 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 25, 2016Earthquake · M 6.349 km NNE of Al Hoceïma, Morocco · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 25, 2016Tsunami · 0.02 m highMoroccoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 24, 2004Earthquake · M 6.411 km SSW of Tirhanimîne, Morocco · 628 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 26, 1994Earthquake · M 6.015 km WNW of Tirhanimîne, MoroccoUSGS
- February 29, 1960Earthquake · M 5.9Agadir · 13,100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Morocco 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 Morocco 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 Morocco, 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