Earthquakes in Mexico
Mexico straddles the boundary of five tectonic plates and is among the most earthquake-prone nations in the Americas. Along the Pacific coast of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas the Cocos and Rivera plates subduct beneath the North American and Caribbean plates at the Middle America Trench, while in the northwest the Baja California peninsula is being torn away along the transform faults of the Gulf of California.
The 1985 Michoacán earthquake (M8.0) struck offshore yet devastated distant Mexico City, whose lake-bed soils amplified the shaking — a disaster that reshaped the country's building codes. On its anniversary in 2017 the M7.1 Puebla quake again shook the capital. Great subduction earthquakes here regularly exceed magnitude 8.
The figures below are drawn live from the EarthquakeIndex archive for the area shown. No one can predict when the next earthquake will strike — but you can follow every event the moment EMSC records it.
Mexico seismic activity at a glance
- 116,246 Earthquakes on record
- 12,873 In the last 12 months
- M8.1 Strongest ever 2017
- M3.0 Most recent 16 Oct 2026
Recent earthquakes in Mexico
The last 30 days, newest first.
| Date | Magnitude | Depth | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| M3.0ml | 5 km | Western Texas | |
| M4.0m | 17 km | Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| M4.0m | 143 km | Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| M4.0m | 103 km | Veracruz, Mexico | |
| M4.1m | 10 km | Off Coast Of Chiapas, Mexico | |
| M2.8m | 22 km | Offshore El Salvador | |
| M4.0m | 85 km | Offshore Chiapas, Mexico | |
| M3.8m | 10 km | Offshore El Salvador | |
| M4.8mb | 110 km | Chiapas, Mexico | |
| M3.3m | 17 km | Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| M3.4m | 137 km | Veracruz, Mexico | |
| M3.2m | 29 km | Colima, Mexico | |
| M3.0m | 20 km | Guerrero, Mexico | |
| M3.2m | 53 km | Guerrero, Mexico | |
| M3.8m | 47 km | Offshore El Salvador | |
| M2.0ml | 6 km | Southern Texas | |
| M3.6m | 15 km | Off Coast Of Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| M3.8m | 18 km | Off Coast Of Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| M4.7mb | 16 km | Offshore Chiapas, Mexico | |
| M3.0m | 9 km | Offshore Guatemala |
Live data from the EarthquakeIndex archive · source EMSC.
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