Earthquakes in Vietnam through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Vietnam. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.8 on November 1, 1935 (27 km SE of Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam).
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
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to 1882. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.9 on July 27, 2020 (~120km W of Hanoi, Vietnam). NOAA’s record here begins in July 1882 with a tsunami (Binh Thuan). 1 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Vietnam. The highest water NOAA records here was 8.5 m, on November 5, 2017. The deadliest, on November 5, 2017, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Vietnam. The largest was Cendres, Ile des on March 2, 1923, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- July 27, 2020Earthquake · M 4.9~120km W of Hanoi, VietnamUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 5, 2017Tsunami · 8.5 m hereQuang Nam · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- June 24, 1983Earthquake · M 6.345 km NE of Dien Bien Phu, VietnamUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 12, 1961Earthquake · M 5.7Bac Giang, Hai DuongNOAA NCEI
- November 1, 1935Earthquake · M 6.827 km SE of Dien Bien Phu, VietnamUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 2, 1923Eruption · VEI 2Cendres, Ile desNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 15, 1923Earthquake · M 6.1Thuan Hai ProvinceNOAA NCEI
- July 1882TsunamiBinh ThuanNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Vietnam 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 Vietnam 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 Vietnam, 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