Earthquakes in Peru through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 224 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Peru. 50 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8.8 on February 6, 1716 (Pueblo De Torata In Tacna).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.3 on October 11 (28 km SSW of Camaná, Peru).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.9 on May 31, 1970 (34 km SW of Chimbote, Peru), for which NOAA records 66,794 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 198 here, back to 1471. NOAA records deaths in 100 of the events here, 134,431 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on July 19, 2026 (2 km WSW of Huamancaca Chico, Peru). NOAA’s record here begins in 1471 with an earthquake. It grows thinner going back: 112 of the 198 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 54 tsunamis that began in or off Peru, and 6 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 30 m, on March 19, 1971. The deadliest, on October 29, 1746, killed 4,800 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 4 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Peru. The largest was Huaynaputina on February 19, 1600, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 1,500 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- July 19, 2026Earthquake · M 5.52 km WSW of Huamancaca Chico, Peru · 6 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 19, 1971Tsunami · 30 m hereChungarNOAA NCEI
- May 31, 1970Earthquake · M 7.934 km SW of Chimbote, Peru · 66,794 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 13, 1868Earthquake · M 8.5 (est.)Arica · 25,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 29, 1746Tsunami · 24 m hereCentral Peru · 4,800 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 11, 1716Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- February 6, 1716Earthquake · M 8.8 (est.)Pueblo De Torata In TacnaNOAA NCEI
- 1657EarthquakeLima,Callao · 11,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- February 14, 1619Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)Trujillo, Piura, Santa · 350 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- October 20, 1609Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- February 19, 1600Eruption · VEI 6Huaynaputina · 1,500 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1513Earthquake · M 8.7 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- 1471Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Peru 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 Peru 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 Peru, 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