Earthquakes in Spain, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Spain. One stands far above the rest: a magnitude 7.8 on March 29, 1954 (Strait of Gibraltar). The next strongest reached 6.3.
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 5 on April 19, 1956, for which NOAA records 11 deaths. 9 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 25 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.1 on May 11, 2011 (Lorca). NOAA lists 8 tsunamis that began in or off Spain, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5 m, on June 15, 2006. The deadliest, on July 16, 2018, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions 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
- September 19, 2021Eruption · VEI 3La Palma · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 16, 2018Tsunami · 0.75 m highBalearic Islands · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- May 11, 2011Earthquake · M 5.1Lorca · 10 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 11, 2010Earthquake · M 6.31 km S of Nigüelas, SpainUSGS
- June 15, 2006Tsunami · 5 m hereCiutadella, Menorca IslandNOAA NCEI
- May 21, 1997Earthquake · M 5.4Galicia; Portugal · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 19, 1956Earthquake · M 5.011 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 29, 1954Earthquake · M 7.8Strait of GibraltarUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 5, 1930Earthquake · M 5.6MontillaNOAA 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 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 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