Earthquakes in Solomon Islands through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 483 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Solomon Islands. 79 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on April 1, 2007 (2007 Solomon Islands Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 8 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 6.2 on October 11 (86 km SSE of Panguna, Papua New Guinea).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 52 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 65 here, back to 1568. NOAA records deaths in 13 of the events here, 1,286 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7 on November 22, 2022 (18 km SW of Malango, Solomon Islands). NOAA’s record here begins in 1568 with an eruption (Savo). It grows thinner going back: 60 of the 65 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 51 tsunamis that began in or off Solomon Islands, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 12.1 m, on April 1, 2007. The deadliest, on October 3, 1931, killed 50 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 7 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Solomon Islands. The largest was Savo in 1568, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 1,001 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- November 22, 2022Earthquake · M 7.018 km SW of Malango, Solomon IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 6, 2013Earthquake · M 8.02013 Santa Cruz Islands Earthquake · 10 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 1, 2007Earthquake · M 8.12007 Solomon Islands Earthquake · 52 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 1, 2007Tsunami · 12.1 m hereSolomon Islands · 50 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 17, 1980Earthquake · M 7.9199 km S of Lata, Solomon IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 20, 1975Earthquake · M 7.956 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- October 3, 1931Earthquake · M 7.8108 km SW of Kirakira, Solomon Islands · 50 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- October 3, 1931Tsunami · 9 m hereSan Cristobal Island · 50 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 1840Eruption · VEI 3Savo · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1568Eruption · VEI 3Savo · 1,001 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands, 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