Earthquakes in United Kingdom, 1927–2026
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 6 or more in or off United Kingdom from 1927 to October 19, 2026. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 6 in or off United Kingdom in these years.
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
None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6 on June 7, 1931 (Scarborough, Grimsby). NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 6 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.8 on February 27, 2008 (England: Lincolnshire). NOAA lists 11 tsunamis that began in or off United Kingdom. The highest of them reached 9 m, on August 2, 1932.
The events
- February 27, 2008Earthquake · M 4.8England: LincolnshireNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 22, 2002Earthquake · M 4.8Mansfield, DudleyNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 2, 1990Earthquake · M 4.7Manchester, LiverpoolNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 19, 1984Earthquake · M 4.7WalesNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 2, 1932Tsunami · 9 m highAberavon, WalesNOAA NCEI
- June 7, 1931Earthquake · M 6.0Scarborough, GrimsbyNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for United Kingdom when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 60 mi of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 190 mi, where United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom, 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