Earthquakes in Trinidad & Tobago through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 12 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Trinidad & Tobago. The strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 7.5 on January 10, 1888 (St George's).
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 one death for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 8 here, back to 1498. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 2 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on September 29, 2006 (Gasparillo). NOAA’s record here begins on August 2, 1498 with an earthquake (Boca De La Sierpe). It grows thinner going back: 4 of the 8 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Trinidad & Tobago. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Trinidad & Tobago.
The events
- September 29, 2006Earthquake · M 5.5Gasparillo · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 22, 1997Earthquake · M 6.718 km WSW of Scarborough, Trinidad and TobagoUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 10, 1988Earthquake · M 6.762 km ESE of Sangre Grande, Trinidad and TobagoUSGS
- August 8, 1923Earthquake · M 6.341 km WSW of Güiria, VenezuelaUSGS
- November 3, 1911EruptionPiparoNOAA NCEI
- January 23, 1910Earthquake · M 6.5144 km ENE of Scarborough, Trinidad and TobagoUSGS
- January 10, 1888Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)St George's · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- August 2, 1498EarthquakeBoca De La SierpeNOAA NCEI
- August 2, 1498TsunamiBoca De La SierpeNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Trinidad & Tobago 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 Trinidad & Tobago 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 Trinidad & Tobago, 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