Earthquakes in Northern Mariana Islands through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 93 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Northern Mariana Islands. 12 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7, twice: on December 28, 1940 (Mariana Islands region) and on July 29, 2016 (Pagan region, Northern Mariana Islands).
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
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to 1819. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.7 on July 29, 2016 (Pagan region, Northern Mariana Islands). NOAA’s record here begins in 1819 with a tsunami (Asuncion Island, N. Mariana Islands). It grows thinner going back: 6 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began in or off Northern Mariana Islands, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.2 m, on March 11, 2011. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in or off Northern Mariana Islands.
The events
- July 29, 2016Earthquake · M 7.7Pagan region, Northern Mariana IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 11, 2011Tsunami · 1.2 m hereHonshu IslandNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 5, 1990Earthquake · M 7.6198 km E of Saipan, Northern Mariana IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 28, 1940Earthquake · M 7.7Mariana Islands regionUSGS
- January 17, 1940Earthquake · M 7.5Mariana Islands regionUSGS
- September 22, 1902Earthquake · M 7.5Northern Mariana IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- 1819TsunamiAsuncion Island, N. Mariana IslandsNOAA NCEI
- 1819EruptionAsuncionNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Northern Mariana Islands 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 Northern Mariana Islands 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 Northern Mariana Islands, 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