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.

Map of earthquakes in Mexico from 1990 to 2017

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 67 mm (0.220 ft) 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	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injuries	Total damage / notes
2020-06-23	Oaxaca	7.4 Mw	IX	10	25
2018-02-16	Oaxaca	7.2 Mw	VII	14	17	Most of casualties after a helicopter crash
2017-09-23	Oaxaca	6.1 Mw	VII	6	7
2017-09-19	Mexico City, Morelos, Puebla	7.1 Mw	VIII	370	6,011
2017-09-07	Chiapas, Oaxaca	8.2 Mw	IX	98	300	Tsunami
2015-10-23	Guerrero	5.5 Mw	IV	2
2014-07-07	Chiapas	6.9 Mw	VIII	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	Guerrero	5.8 Mw	V	2
2003-01-22	Colima	7.5 Mw	VIII	29	300	Severe / tsunami
1999-09-30	Oaxaca	7.4 Mw	VIII	35
1999-06-15	Puebla	7.0 Mw		20		MXN $200,000,000	[1]
1997-01-11	Michoacán	7.2 Mw	VIII	1		Damage at Arteaga	[2]
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	3	6–350		[3][4]
1985-09-19	Michoacán, Mexico City	8.0 Mw	IX	5,000–45,000	30,000	Extreme / tsunami
1981-10-25	Michoacán	7.2 Mw		3
1980-10-24	Oaxaca	7.2 Mw	IX	65–300+	Many	$5 million
1979-10-15	Baja California	6.4 Mw	IX		91
1979-03-14	Guerrero	7.6 Mw	VIII	5	35
1973-08-28	Puebla, Veracruz	7.0 ML	VIII	539–1,000	Thousands	Severe
1973-01-30	Colima	7.5 Ms		56	390	Moderate / non-destructive tsunami	NGDC harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNGDC (help)
1968-08-02	Guerrero, Oaxaca	7.3	VII
1965-08-23	Oaxaca	7.5 Mw		6
1964-07-06	Guerrero	7.4 Ms	IX	40
1957-07-28	Guerrero, Mexico City	7.9 Ms	VII	54–160	Many	Extreme / tsunami	NGDC harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNGDC (help)
1941-04-15	Colima	7.6 Mw	IX	90
1937-07-26	Puebla, Veracruz	7.3 Ms	IX	34
1932-06-22	Colima	7.0 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	7.8 Ms	X–XII	648–4,000	167		NGDC harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNGDC (help)
1912-11-19	State of Mexico	7.0	VIII				[5]
1911-12-16	Guerrero	7.6	IX
1911-06-07	Michoacán	7.6	IX	45
1909-07-30	Guerrero	7.6	IX
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	IX
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	IX
1864-10-03	Puebla, Veracruz	7.3	VIII
1858-06-19	Michoacán	7.5	IX			"Temblor de Santa Juliana"	[6]
1854-05-05	Oaxaca	7.7	VIII
1845-04-07	Guerrero	7.9 Ms				"Temblor de Santa Teresa"	[7][6]
1852-11-29	Baja California	6.5 MLa	IX				[8]
1845-03-09	Oaxaca	7.5	VII
1837-11-22	Jalisco	7.7	IX
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					[7]
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
Stover & Coffman 1993 uses various seismic scales. MLa is a local magnitude that is equivalent to ML (Richter magnitude 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

1. "Puebla, a 18 años del terremoto de 1999" [Puebla, 18 years after the earthquake of 1999]. El Popular (in Spanish). June 15, 2016.
2. USGS. "M 7.2 - Michoacan, Mexico". United States Geological Survey.
3. ANSS. "Guerrero 1989 : M 6.9 - Guerrero, Mexico". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
4. USGS (4 September 2009), PAGER-CAT Earthquake Catalog, Version 2008_06.1, United States Geological Survey
5. Zúñiga, F.R.; Pacheco, J.F.; Guzmán-Speziale, M.; Aguirre-Dı́az, G.J.; Espı́ndola, V.H.; Nava, E. (2003). "The Sanfandila earthquake sequence of 1998, Queretaro, Mexico: activation of an undocumented fault in the northern edge of central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt". Tectonophysics. 361 (3–4): 229–238. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(02)00606-6.
6. "19th century earthquakes in Mexico: three cases, three comparative studies" by América Molina del Villar
7. Singh, S. K.; Astiz, L.; Havskov, J. (1981), "Seismic gaps and recurrence periods of large earthquakes along the Mexican subduction zone: A reexamination", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Seismological Society of America, 71 (3): 828
8. Stover, C. W.; Coffman, J. L. (1993), Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised), U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, pp. 72, 101

References

• NGDC (1972), Significant Earthquake Database (Data Set), National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K