Earthquakes in Samoa through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 151 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Samoa. 8 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on September 29, 2009 (2009 Samoa Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 192 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to 1800. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 196 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.6 on May 10, 2023 (82 km WNW of Hihifo, Tonga). NOAA’s record here begins on June 2, 1800 with a tsunami (Azores). It grows thinner going back: 6 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 15 tsunamis that began in or off Samoa, and 6 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 14.45 m, on September 29, 2009. The deadliest, on September 29, 2009, killed 207 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 8 significant eruptions of one volcano in or off Samoa. The largest was Savaii on August 4, 1905, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- May 10, 2023Earthquake · M 7.682 km WNW of Hihifo, TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 29, 2009Earthquake · M 8.12009 Samoa Earthquake · 192 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 29, 2009Tsunami · 14.45 m hereSamoa Islands · 207 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 1, 1981Earthquake · M 7.7133 km NE of Hihifo, TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 26, 1975Earthquake · M 7.8146 km ESE of Hihifo, TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 26, 1917Earthquake · M 8.0The 1917 Samoa-Tonga Earthquake · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 4, 1905Eruption · VEI 2SavaiiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 2, 1800TsunamiAzoresNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Samoa 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 Samoa 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 Samoa, 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