Earthquakes in Panama through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 121 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Panama. 8 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8.3 on September 7, 1882 (San Blas Archipelago).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 79 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 18 (0 km NE of Río Grande, Panama). The strongest: magnitude 7.7 on October 9 (12 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, Panama).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.3 on July 13, 1974 (33 km SSW of Boca de Cupé, Panama), for which NOAA records 11 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 27 here, back to 1621. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 18 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.7 on October 9, 2026 (12 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, Panama). NOAA’s record here begins on May 2, 1621 with an earthquake (Panama). It grows thinner going back: 17 of the 27 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 10 tsunamis that began in or off Panama, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3 m, on September 7, 1882. The deadliest, on September 7, 1882, killed 100 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- October 9, 2026Earthquake · M 7.712 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, PanamaUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 11, 1976Earthquake · M 6.739 km WSW of Jaqué, Panama · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 13, 1974Earthquake · M 7.333 km SSW of Boca de Cupé, Panama · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 5, 1941Earthquake · M 7.570 km WSW of Golfito, Costa Rica · 6 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 18, 1934Earthquake · M 7.544 km ESE of Burica, PanamaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 20, 1904Earthquake · M 7.9NOAA NCEI
- September 7, 1882Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)San Blas ArchipelagoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 7, 1882Tsunami · 3 m hereSan Blas Archipelago · 100 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 2, 1621Earthquake · M 6.0 (est.)PanamaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Panama 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 Panama 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 Panama, 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