Earthquakes in Tonga through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 305 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Tonga. 29 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on April 30, 1919 (1919 Tonga Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.5 on October 12 (122 km W of Neiafu, Tonga).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.8 on June 22, 1977 (Tonga region), for which NOAA records one death. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 22 here, back to 1853. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 7 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.5 on March 24, 2026 (158 km W of Neiafu, Tonga). NOAA’s record here begins on December 24, 1853 with an earthquake. 8 of the 22 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 19 tsunamis that began in or off Tonga, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 22 m, on January 15, 2022. The deadliest, on January 15, 2022, killed 4 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Tonga. The largest was Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai on January 15, 2022, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 6 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- March 24, 2026Earthquake · M 7.5158 km W of Neiafu, TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 15, 2022Eruption · VEI 6Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai · 6 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 15, 2022Tsunami · 22 m hereTonga Islands · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- May 3, 2006Earthquake · M 8.02006 Tonga EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 22, 1977Earthquake · M 6.8Tonga region · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 30, 1919Earthquake · M 8.11919 Tonga EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 26, 1913Earthquake · M 7.8111 km SSE of Pangai, TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 4, 1903Earthquake · M 8.0TongaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 18, 1865Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- December 24, 1853EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Tonga 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 Tonga 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 Tonga, 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