Earthquakes in Wallis & Futuna through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 78 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Wallis & Futuna. The strongest was a magnitude 7.6 on May 23, 1956 (144 km SSW of Leava, Wallis and Futuna).
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.4 on March 12, 1993 (Fiji region), for which NOAA records 5 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 2 here, back to 1853. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 30 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on June 24, 1853 with an eruption (Niuafo'ou). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Wallis & Futuna, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4.5 m, on September 29, 2009. NOAA lists 2 significant eruptions of one volcano in or off Wallis & Futuna. The largest was Niuafo'ou on August 31, 1886, at 4 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Niuafo'ou on June 24, 1853, which killed 25 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- September 29, 2009Tsunami · 4.5 m hereSamoa IslandsNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 13, 2005Earthquake · M 6.7116 km SSW of Leava, Wallis and FutunaUSGS
- March 12, 1993Earthquake · M 6.4Fiji region · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- April 6, 1991Earthquake · M 6.7203 km SSE of Mata-Utu, Wallis and FutunaUSGS
- January 19, 1967Earthquake · M 7.085 km SW of Leava, Wallis and FutunaUSGS
- May 23, 1956Earthquake · M 7.6144 km SSW of Leava, Wallis and FutunaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 1, 1922Earthquake · M 6.7139 km S of Alo, Wallis and FutunaUSGS
- August 31, 1886Eruption · VEI 4Niuafo'ouNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 24, 1853Eruption · VEI 0Niuafo'ou · 25 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Wallis & Futuna 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 Wallis & Futuna 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 Wallis & Futuna, 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