Earthquakes in Oman through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Oman. The strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7 in 1570 (Qalhat).
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 6.3 on July 9, 1902 (Qeshm Island: Qeshm,Bandar Abbas,Genu), for which NOAA records 10 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 10 here, back to 1306. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on December 7, 2008 (S). NOAA’s record here begins in 1306 with an earthquake (Qeshm Island). 9 of the 10 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis from elsewhere that reached Oman with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5.4 m, on December 26, 2004.
The events
- December 7, 2008Earthquake · M 5.4SNOAA NCEI
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 5.4 m hereOff W. Coast Of SumatraNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 11, 1945Earthquake · M 6.172 km E of Bandar-e Lengeh, IranUSGS
- January 9, 1905Earthquake · M 6.2southern IranUSGS
- July 9, 1902Earthquake · M 6.3Qeshm Island: Qeshm,Bandar Abbas,Genu · 10 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 1570Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)QalhatNOAA NCEI
- 1482Earthquake · M 6.5 (est.)Hormoz,OmanNOAA NCEI
- 1306EarthquakeQeshm IslandNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Oman 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 Oman 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 Oman, 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