Earthquakes in Nicaragua through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 84 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Nicaragua. 12 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.9 on April 29, 1898 (Leon, Chinandega, Managua).
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 4.9 on October 19 (68 km WSW of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.3 on December 23, 1972 (10 km N of Managua, Nicaragua), for which NOAA records 10,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 47 here, back to 4051 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 14 of the events here, 16,773 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on May 6, 2018 (10 km S of Intipucá, El Salvador). NOAA’s record here begins in 4051 BCE with an eruption (Masaya). It grows thinner going back: 30 of the 47 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 7 tsunamis that began in or off Nicaragua. The highest water NOAA records here was 9.9 m, on September 2, 1992. The deadliest, on September 2, 1992, killed 96 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 8 significant eruptions of 7 volcanoes in or off Nicaragua. The largest was Masaya in 4051 BCE, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was San Cristobal on October 30, 1998, which killed 1,620 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- May 6, 2018Earthquake · M 5.410 km S of Intipucá, El SalvadorUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- October 30, 1998EruptionSan Cristobal · 1,620 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 2, 1992Earthquake · M 7.783 km SSW of Corinto, Nicaragua · 170 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 2, 1992Tsunami · 9.9 m hereNicaragua · 96 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 23, 1972Earthquake · M 6.310 km N of Managua, Nicaragua · 10,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 5, 1950Earthquake · M 7.5Costa RicaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 31, 1931Earthquake · M 5.6Managua · 2,450 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 27, 1916Earthquake · M 7.5Off CoastNOAA NCEI
- April 29, 1898Earthquake · M 7.9 (est.)Leon, Chinandega, ManaguaNOAA NCEI
- May 1844Earthquake · M 7.4 (est.)Rivas, GreytownNOAA NCEI
- 4051 BCEEruption · VEI 6MasayaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Nicaragua 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 Nicaragua 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 Nicaragua, 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