Earthquakes in Peru, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 201 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Peru. 44 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.4 on June 23, 2001 (6 km SSW of Atico, Peru).
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. 112 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 76 of the events here, 70,794 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 lists 23 tsunamis that began in or off Peru, and 4 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 November 20, 1960, killed 79 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in or off Peru. The largest was Coropuna on May 29, 1990, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- July 19, 2026Earthquake · M 5.52 km WSW of Huamancaca Chico, Peru · 6 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 15, 2007Earthquake · M 8.041 km SW of San Vicente de Cañete, Peru · 596 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 23, 2001Earthquake · M 8.46 km SSW of Atico, Peru · 103 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 29, 1990Eruption · VEI 3CoropunaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 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
- October 17, 1966Earthquake · M 8.167 km W of Paramonga, Peru · 110 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 20, 1960Tsunami · 9 m hereN. Peru · 79 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 10, 1946Earthquake · M 6.86 km SSW of Quiches, Peru · 800 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 24, 1942Earthquake · M 8.121 km NNE of Minas de Marcona, Peru · 30 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 24, 1940Earthquake · M 8.221 km SE of Huacho, Peru · 179 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
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