Earthquakes in Saudi Arabia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Saudi Arabia. The strongest was a magnitude 7.2 on November 22, 1995 (27 km SSE of Nuwaybi‘a, Egypt).
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 11 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 6 here, back to AD 640. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 13 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.7 on May 19, 2009 (Western). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 640 with an eruption (Uwayrid, Harrat). It grows thinner going back: 5 of the 6 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began in or off Saudi Arabia. The highest of them reached 4 m, on November 22, 1995. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Saudi Arabia. The largest was Uwayrid, Harrat in AD 640, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- May 19, 2009Earthquake · M 5.7WesternNOAA NCEI
- May 17, 2009Earthquake · M 4.6WesternNOAA NCEI
- June 9, 2004Earthquake · M 4.6WesternNOAA NCEI
- November 22, 1995Earthquake · M 7.227 km SSE of Nuwaybi‘a, Egypt · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 22, 1995Tsunami · 4 m highGulf Of Elat-AqabaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 31, 1969Earthquake · M 6.629 km NE of El Gouna, Egypt · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 640Eruption · VEI 2Uwayrid, HarratNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia, 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