Earthquakes in Nepal through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 15 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Nepal. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8.2 on June 6, 1505.
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 8 on January 15, 1934 (1934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake), for which NOAA records 10,600 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 20 here, back to 1255. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 21,119 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on December 20, 2024 (60 km WNW of Jumla, Nepal). NOAA’s record here begins on June 7, 1255 with an earthquake (Kathmandu). It grows thinner going back: 15 of the 20 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami that began in Nepal.
The events
- December 20, 2024Earthquake · M 5.060 km WNW of Jumla, NepalUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 12, 2015Earthquake · M 7.3Nepal · 117 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 25, 2015Earthquake · M 7.867 km NNE of Bharatpur, Nepal · 8,957 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 20, 1988Earthquake · M 6.99 km WSW of Triyuga, Nepal · 998 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 15, 1934Earthquake · M 8.01934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake · 10,600 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 15, 1934TsunamiBihar-Nepal, Ganges RiverNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 28, 1916Earthquake · M 7.021 km SE of Dārchulā, NepalUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 6, 1505Earthquake · M 8.2 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- June 7, 1255EarthquakeKathmanduNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Nepal when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- 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 Nepal, 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