Earthquakes in Spain, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 12 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Spain. None reached magnitude 6: the strongest was a magnitude 5.2 on July 14, 2025.
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
NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 2 in all. 2026 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 5 of the 12. NOAA lists 3 tsunamis that began in or off Spain. The highest of them reached 0.75 m, on July 16, 2018. The deadliest, on July 16, 2018, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Spain. The largest was La Palma on September 19, 2021, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed one person by NOAA’s count.
The events
- August 18, 2026Earthquake · M 4.91 km SE of Las Gabias, SpainUSGS
- August 14, 2026Earthquake · M 5.01 km W of Alhendín, SpainUSGS
- July 14, 2025Earthquake · M 5.2USGS
- September 19, 2021Eruption · VEI 3La Palma · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 30, 2020Earthquake · M 4.63 km ESE of Huarte-Uharte, SpainUSGS
- September 26, 2019Earthquake · M 4.8215 km W of Frontera, SpainUSGS
- July 16, 2018Tsunami · 0.75 m highBalearic Islands · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Spain 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 Spain is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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 Spain, 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