Earthquakes in Venezuela, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 33 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Venezuela. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.5 on June 24, 2026 (20 km W of Catia La Mar, Venezuela).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on October 13 (0 km SW of Cepitá, Colombia). The strongest: magnitude 5 on October 2 (22 km SSE of Güiria, Venezuela).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.2 on June 24, 2026 (20 km E of San Felipe, Venezuela), for which NOAA records 6,509 deaths. 26 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 14 of the events here, 7,062 in all. NOAA lists 9 tsunamis that began in or off Venezuela. The highest water NOAA records here was 6 m, on January 17, 1929.
The events
- June 24, 2026Earthquake · M 7.520 km W of Catia La Mar, VenezuelaUSGS
- June 24, 2026Earthquake · M 7.220 km E of San Felipe, Venezuela · 6,509 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 21, 2018Earthquake · M 7.340 km ENE of Carúpano, Venezuela · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 9, 1997Earthquake · M 7.026 km WSW of Carúpano, Venezuela · 81 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 30, 1967Earthquake · M 6.6300 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 3, 1950Earthquake · M 6.48 km SSW of El Tocuyo, Venezuela · 100 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 17, 1929Earthquake · M 6.9Cumana · 50 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 17, 1929Tsunami · 6 m hereCumanaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Venezuela 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 Venezuela 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 Venezuela, 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