Strongest magnitude | 7.1 Mw China |
---|---|
Deadliest | 7.1 Mw China 126 deaths |
Total fatalities | 126 |
Number by magnitude | |
9.0+ | 0 |
8.0–8.9 | 0 |
7.0–7.9 | 1 |
6.0–6.9 | 3 |
5.0–5.9 | 42 |
4.0–4.9 | 215 |
This is a list of earthquakes in 2025. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in significant damage and/or casualties. All dates are listed according to UTC time. The maximum intensities are based on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. Earthquake magnitudes are based on data from the USGS.
Magnitude | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8.0–9.9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
7.0–7.9 | 18 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 10 | 1 |
6.0–6.9 | 127 | 131 | 104 | 118 | 135 | 111 | 141 | 117 | 128 | 90 | 3 |
5.0–5.9 | 1,413 | 1,549 | 1,446 | 1,671 | 1,484 | 1,314 | 2,055 | 1,599 | 1,633 | 1,403 | 42 |
4.0–4.9 | 13,776 | 13,700 | 11,541 | 12,785 | 11,899 | 12,513 | 15,069 | 14,022 | 14,451 | 12,169 | 215 |
Total | 15,335 | 15,396 | 13,098 | 14,591 | 13,528 | 13,938 | 17,284 | 15,749 | 16,231 | 13,672 | 261 |
Rank | Death toll | Magnitude | Location | MMI | Depth (km) | Date | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 126 | 7.1 | China, Tibet Autonomous Region | IX (Violent) | 10.0 | January 7 | 2025 Tibet earthquake |
Listed are earthquakes with at least 10 dead.
Rank | Magnitude | Death toll | Location | MMI | Depth (km) | Date | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7.1 | 126 | China, Tibet Autonomous Region | IX (Violent) | 10.0 | January 7 | 2025 Tibet earthquake |
Listed are earthquakes with at least 7.0 magnitude.
Strongest magnitude | 7.1 Mw China |
---|---|
Deadliest | 7.1 Mw China 126 deaths |
Total fatalities | 126 |
Number by magnitude | |
9.0+ | 0 |
8.0–8.9 | 0 |
7.0–7.9 | 1 |
6.0–6.9 | 3 |
5.0–5.9 | 42 |
4.0–4.9 | 215 |
Date | Country and location | Mw | Depth (km) | MMI | Notes | Casualties | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dead | Injured | ||||||
1 [1] | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Sandwich Islands offshore | 6.1 | 83.0 | IV | - | - | - |
2 [2] | China, Ningxia, 4 km (2.5 mi) west-southwest of Yinchuan | 4.8 | 10.0 | VI | Six people injured, 7,599 buildings damaged and railway services disrupted in Yinchuan. [3] [4] | - | 6 |
2 [5] | Ethiopia, Afar, 36 km (22 mi) north of Awash | 5.1 | 10.0 | IV | - | - | |
2 [6] | China, Inner Mongolia, 34 km (21 mi) south-southeast of Bayan Hot | 4.9 | 10.0 | VI | One building severely damaged, a balcony collapsed and several structures damaged in the Yinchuan area. [7] | - | - |
2 [8] | Chile, Antofagasta, 84 km (52 mi) north-northwest of Calama | 6.1 | 99.0 | V | Landslides and power and water outages occurred in the epicentral area. [9] [10] | - | - |
4 [11] | Ethiopia, Afar, 54 km (34 mi) north of Awash | 5.7 | 8.0 | VIII | - | - | |
5 [12] | El Salvador, La Paz offshore, 50 km (31 mi) south-southeast of La Libertad | 6.2 | 49.5 | VI | Two people injured, more than 10 homes and several buildings damaged and landslides in the San Salvador-Usulután area. [13] [14] | - | 2 |
6 [15] | Iran, Fars, 79 km (49 mi) northwest of Mohr | 5.2 | 10.0 | VI | At least 200 homes destroyed and 300 others damaged in Farashband County. [16] | - | - |
7 [17] | China, Tibet Autonomous Region, 94 km (58 mi) northeast of Lobuche, Nepal | 7.1 | 10.0 | IX | 126 | 350 | |
7 [18] | Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara offshore, 27 km (17 mi) north northwest of Komodo | 5.0 | 10.0 | V | One home collapsed in the Bima area. [19] | - | - |
Earthquakes are caused by movements within the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle. They range from weak events detectable only by seismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters in human history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies.
The 1920 Haiyuan earthquake occurred on December 16 in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, Republic of China at 19:05:53. It was also called the 1920 Gansu earthquake because Ningxia was a part of Gansu Province when the earthquake occurred. It caused destruction in the Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area and was assigned the maximum intensity on the Mercalli intensity scale. About 258,707-273,407 died, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in China and disasters in China by death toll.
The 2008 Panzhihua earthquake struck southern Sichuan province, China on August 30 at 16:30:50.5 China Standard Time with a surface-wave magnitude of 6.1, or 6.0 Mw. It is also cited as the Renhe-Huili earthquake, especially in SCEA reports and early CEA reports. It was not an aftershock of the Sichuan earthquake that occurred several months prior. With more than 400 aftershocks, it caused over 40 deaths, the collapse of 10,000 homes and damage to other infrastructure in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. The maximum liedu was VIII.
The Xingtai earthquake was a sequence of major earthquakes that took place between March 8 and March 29, 1966, in the area administered by the prefecture-level city of Xingtai in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China.
The 1951 East Rift Valley earthquakes were a series of earthquakes which struck eastern Taiwan from 22 October 1951 to 5 December 1951, four of which registered at 7 or greater on the moment magnitude scale, the largest of those being magnitude 7.3 and 7.8 quakes on November 24. Altogether the quakes killed 85 people.
On 7 September 2012, a series of earthquakes occurred in Yiliang County, Zhaotong, Yunnan. The two main shocks occurred at 11:19 and 12:16 China Standard Time. The earthquakes left 81 people dead and 821 injured. According to the officials, at least 100,000 people were evacuated and more than 20,000 houses were damaged.
The 2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 8.3 at 15:44:49 local time on 24 May. It had an epicenter in the Sea of Okhotsk and affected primarily Asian Russia, especially the Kamchatka Peninsula where the shaking lasted for five minutes.
The 2014 Ludian earthquake struck Ludian County, Yunnan, China, with a moment magnitude of 6.1 on 3 August. The earthquake killed at least 615 people, injuring at least 2,400 others. At least 114 people remained missing. Over 12,000 houses collapsed and 30,000 were damaged. According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred 29 km (18 mi) west-southwest of Zhaotong city at 16:30 local time (08:30 UTC).
The 2014 Kangding earthquake struck Kangding County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China, with a moment magnitude of 5.9 on 22 November. The earthquake killed five and injured 54 people.
On June 1, 2022, a moment magnitude (Mw ) 5.8 or surface-wave magnitude (Ms ) 6.1 earthquake struck Lushan County in Ya'an, Sichuan Province, China. At least four people were killed and 42 were injured. The earthquake had a maximum intensity of VIII on the China seismic intensity scale, causing damage to many homes and triggering rockslides.
A Mw 6.7 earthquake struck Luding County in Sichuan province, China on 5 September 2022 at 12:52:19 local time. The epicenter was located 226 km (140 mi) from Chengdu, or 43 km (27 mi) southeast of Kangding. Ninety-three people died, 424 were injured and 24 remained missing. More than 13,000 homes and other infrastructure were damaged or destroyed. It was the largest earthquake to strike the province since 2017.
The 2019 Zigong earthquake occurred in Zigong, Sichuan Province, China, at about 13:00 on February 25, 2019. The epicentre was located in Rongxian County, with a magnitude of Ms 4.9, a focal depth of about 5 km and a maximum intensity of VI. The earthquake killed two people and injured 12 others.
On 7 January 2025 at 09:05 CST (UTC+8), an earthquake measuring Mw 7.1 struck Tingri County, located in the Shigatse prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of southwestern China. At least 126 people were killed and 337 were injured in the region. The earthquake also injured 13 people in Nepal and caused minor damage in northern India. Shaking was felt across North Asia. The earthquake was the largest in China since the Maduo earthquake in May 2021 and the deadliest since the Jishishan earthquake in December 2023. It was caused by normal faulting and originated within the continental crust at 10 km (6.2 mi) depth.