Earthquakes in Portugal, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Portugal. The strongest was a magnitude 7.8 on February 28, 1969 (188 km SW of Sagres, Portugal).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.1 on October 20 (39 km W of Mosteiros, Portugal).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.7 on January 1, 1980 (29 km NE of Ribeira Seca, Portugal), for which NOAA records 69 deaths. 12 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 124 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 1967–1976, with 3 of the 10. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.2 on July 9, 1998 (12 km N of Horta, Portugal). NOAA lists 6 tsunamis that began in or off Portugal. The highest of them reached 5 m, on March 4, 1930.
The events
- July 9, 1998Earthquake · M 6.212 km N of Horta, Portugal · 10 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 1, 1980Earthquake · M 6.729 km NE of Ribeira Seca, Portugal · 69 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 28, 1969Earthquake · M 7.8188 km SW of Sagres, Portugal · 25 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 28, 1968Earthquake · M 7.6NOAA NCEI
- March 15, 1964Earthquake · M 6.691 km SSE of Olhão, PortugalUSGS
- May 8, 1939Earthquake · M 6.799 km SE of Senhora do Rosário, PortugalUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 4, 1930Tsunami · 5 m highMadeira IslandNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Portugal 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 Portugal 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 Portugal, 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