List of earthquakes in Mexico

This is a partial list of earthquakes in Mexico. This list considers every notable earthquake felt or with its epicenter within Mexico's current borders and maritime areas.

Geology Mexico lies within two seismically active earthquake zones. The Baja California peninsula lies near the boundary of the Pacific plate and the North American plate, while southern Mexico lies just north of the boundary between the North American plate and the Cocos and Rivera tectonic plates. The Cocos plate is subducting under the North American plate at a rate of per year, while the Pacific and Rivera plates are moving northwest relative to the North American plate. Southern Mexico also contains numerous faults, which causes that section of the country to have high tectonic activity. Northeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula are not as seismically active as the area close to the boundary between the North American and Cocos plates, but destructive earthquakes can still occur in those areas.

Earthquakes

Date Area MMI Deaths Injuries Total damage / notes Ref2026-07-17Chiapas7.3 VII19Minor damage 2026-01-02Guerrero6.5 VII224Severe damage 2022-09-22Michoacán6.8 VII35Aftershock2022-09-19Michoacán7.6 VIII235Severe damage2022-06-21Jalisco2.4 Severe damage 2022-03-03Veracruz5.7 IVMinor damage2021-09-07Guerrero7.0 MwVIII1323Three missing, damage to 8,700 buildings 2020-06-23Oaxaca7.4 Mw10252018-02-16 Oaxaca 7.2 Mw VII 14 17 Most of casualties after a helicopter crash 2017-09-23 Oaxaca 6.1 Mw VII 6 7 7,000 displaced 2017-09-19 Mexico City, Morelos, Puebla 7.1 Mw 370 6,011 2017-09-07 Chiapas, Oaxaca 8.2 Mw 98 300 Tsunami 2015-11-23 Guerrero 5.5 Mw IV 2 2014-07-07 Chiapas 6.9 Mw VII 5 12 2014-05-08 Guerrero 6.6 Mw VII 2014-04-18 Guerrero 7.2 Mw VII 1 2012-03-20 Guerrero, Oaxaca 7.4 Mw VIII 2 11 2011-12-10 Guerrero 6.5 Mw VII 3 10 2011-05-05 Guerrero 5.7 Mw VI 2010-06-30 Oaxaca 6.2 Mw 1 2010-04-04 Baja California 7.2 Mw VII 2–4 100–233 $1.15 billion 2009-04-27 Guerrero5.8 Mw V 3 Four houses destroyed 2003-01-22 Colima 7.5 Mw VIII 29 300 Severe / tsunami 1999-12-29Guerrero5.9 V1Minor damage 1999-09-30 Oaxaca 7.4 Mw VIII 35 1999-06-15 Puebla 7.0 Mw VIII 14 200 MXN $200,000,000 1997-01-11 Michoacán 7.2 Mw VIII 1 Damage at Arteaga 1995-10-21 Chiapas 7.1 Mw VI 1995-10-09 Colima, Jalisco 8.0 Mw VIII 49–58 100 Tsunami 1995-09-14 Guerrero 7.4 Mw VII 3 1989-04-25 Guerrero 6.9 Mw VII 36–350 1985-09-19 Michoacán, Mexico City 8.0 Mw 5,000–45,000 30,000 Extreme / tsunami 1981-10-25 Michoacán 7.2 Mw VIII 3 1980-10-24 Oaxaca 7.2 Mw 65–300+ Many $5 million 1979-10-15 Baja California 6.4 Mw 91 1979-03-14 Guerrero 7.6 Mw VIII 5 35 1978-11-29 Oaxaca, Mexico City 7.8 Mw VIII 9 Severe 1973-08-28 Puebla, Veracruz 7.1 ML VIII 539–1,000 Thousands Severe 1973-01-30Colima 7.5 Ms 56 390 1968-08-02 Guerrero, Oaxaca 7.3 VII 1965-08-23 Oaxaca 7.5 Mw 6 1964-07-06 Guerrero 7.4 Ms 40 1959-08-26 Veracruz 6.4 Mw VIII 25 200 Severe 1957-07-28 Guerrero, Mexico City 7.9 Ms VII 54–160 Many Extreme / tsunami 1941-04-15 Colima 7.6 Mw 90 1937-07-26 Puebla, Veracruz 7.3 Ms 34 1932-06-22 Colima 7.7 Mw VIII Tsunami 1932-06-18 Colima 7.8 Mw VIII Tsunami 1932-06-03 Jalisco 8.1 Mw X 400 Tsunami 1931-01-15 Oaxaca 7.8 Mw X 114 1920-01-03 Puebla, Veracruz 6.4 Ms X–XII 648–4,000 167 1912-11-19 State of Mexico 7.0 VIII 140 1911-12-16 Guerrero 7.6 1911-06-07 Michoacán 7.6 45 1909-07-30 Guerrero 7.6 1907-04-15 Guerrero 7.7 VIII 1900-01-20 Colima 7.4 VII 1899-01-24 Guerrero 7.5 VII 1897-06-05 Oaxaca 7.4 VII 1894-11-02 Guerrero, Oaxaca 7.4 VIII 1892-02-24 Baja California 7.1–7.2 X 0 1890-12-02 Guerrero, Oaxaca 7.3 VII 1889-09-06 Guerrero 7.1 VI 1887-05-29 Guerrero 7.3 VIII 1887-05-03 Sonora 7.6 Mw 51 1882-07-19 Guerrero, Oaxaca 7.5 1879-05-17 Puebla 7.1 VIII 1875-03-09 Colima, Jalisco 7.4 VII 1875-02-11 Jalisco 7.5 VIII 1874-03-16 Guerrero 7.3 VII 1872-03-27 Oaxaca 7.4 VI 1870-05-11 Oaxaca 7.8 1864-10-03 Puebla, Veracruz 7.3 VIII 1858-06-19 Michoacán 7.5 "Temblor de Santa Juliana" 1854-05-05 Oaxaca 7.7 VIII 1852-12-04 Acapulco 7.8 1845-04-07 Guerrero 7.9 Ms "Temblor de Santa Teresa" "19th century earthquakes in Mexico: three cases, three comparative studies" by América Molina del Villar 1852-11-29 Baja California 6.5 MLa 1845-03-09 Oaxaca 7.5 VII 1837-11-22 Jalisco 7.7 1835-01-06 State of Mexico VII? 1820-05-04 Guerrero 7.6 VII 1818-05-31 Colima, Michoacán 7.7 VIII 1806-03-25 Colima, Michoacán 7.5 Ms 1800-03-08 Central, Eastern, and Southeastern VII 1787-03-28 Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico City 8.6 Mw Severe / tsunami 1776-04-21 Mexico City, Southern VIII uses various seismic scales. MLa is a local magnitude that is equivalent to ML (Richter scale) and is used for events that occurred prior to the instrumental period. It is based on the area of perceptibility (as presented on isoseismal maps). Mw = moment magnitude scale and Ms = surface-wave magnitude. The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

See also Geography of Mexico

Notes

References