Earthquakes in Pakistan, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 44 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Pakistan. 7 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on November 27, 1945 (1945 Makran Subduction Zone Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.6 on October 22 (11 km W of Ashkāsham, Afghanistan). The strongest: magnitude 5.7 on October 17 (48 km WNW of Khuzdar, Pakistan).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.6 on October 8, 2005 (Muzaffarabad, Uri, Anantnag, Baramula), for which NOAA records 76,213 deaths. 45 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 31 of the events here, 143,460 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on January 19, 2026 (49 km NNW of Barishal, Pakistan). NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Pakistan. The highest water NOAA records here was 17 m, on November 27, 1945. The deadliest, on November 27, 1945, killed 4 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- January 19, 2026Earthquake · M 5.649 km NNW of Barishal, Pakistan · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 24, 2013Earthquake · M 7.7113 km NW of Bela, Pakistan · 825 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 8, 2005Earthquake · M 7.6Muzaffarabad, Uri, Anantnag, Baramula · 76,213 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 28, 1974Earthquake · M 6.242 km NNW of Shingli Bala, Pakistan · 5,300 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 27, 1945Earthquake · M 8.11945 Makran Subduction Zone Earthquake · 300 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 27, 1945Tsunami · 17 m hereMakran Coast · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 30, 1935Earthquake · M 7.617 km WSW of Kalat, Pakistan · 60,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 27, 1931Earthquake · M 7.214 km SSE of Mach, PakistanUSGS · NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Pakistan 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 Pakistan 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 Pakistan, 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