List of earthquakes in 1972

Earthquakes in 1972
4.0–5.9 magnitude; 6.0–6.9 magnitude;	7.0–7.9 magnitude; 8.0+ magnitude;
Strongest	Philippines, off the east coast of Mindanao (Magnitude 8.0) December 2
Deadliest	Nicaragua, Managua (Magnitude 6.3) December 23 10,000 deaths
Total fatalities	15,498
Number by magnitude
9.0+	0
	← 1971 1973 →

This is a list of earthquakes in 1972. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest. All dates are listed according to UTC time. Maximum intensities are indicated on the Mercalli intensity scale and are sourced from United States Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap data. The death toll of just over 15,000 was dominated by 2 events. In April, an earthquake struck Iran resulting in 5,374 of the deaths. This was one of the worst disasters in Iranian history. Late in December, Managua, Nicaragua was severely affected by a fairly modest magnitude 6.3 event. The location however contributed to 10,000 deaths and major destruction to the city. Activity was around normal for the year with 16 events exceeding magnitude 7.0. The largest struck the Philippines in December and measured 8.0. Taiwan, the Philippines and the southwest Pacific Islands had heightened seismic activity.

Strongest

Philippines, off the east coast of Mindanao (Magnitude 8.0) December 2

Deadliest

Nicaragua, Managua (Magnitude 6.3) December 23 10,000 deaths

Total fatalities15,498

9.0+0

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Rank	Death toll	Magnitude	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	10,000	6.3	Nicaragua, Managua	IX (Violent)	10.0	December 23
2	5,374	6.6	Iran, Fars province	X (Extreme)	10.0	April 10
3	100	6.2	Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan	VI (Strong)	30.0	September 3
4	11	6.3	Afghanistan, Baghlan Province	VI (Strong)	24.0	June 24

Rank	Magnitude	Death toll	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	8.0	0	Philippines, off the east coast of Mindanao	VII (Very strong)	60.0	December 2
2	7.7	0	Celebes Sea	V (Moderate)	330.8	June 11
3	7.6	0	United States, off the southeast coast of Alaska	VII (Very strong)	25.0	July 30
= 4	7.5	0	Philippines, Mindoro	VIII (Severe)	25.0	April 25
= 4	7.5	0	Australia, southeast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea	V (Moderate)	20.0	August 17
= 5	7.4	0	United Kingdom, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands	VII (Very strong)	101.8	February 14
= 5	7.4	0	Japan, Izu Islands	X (Extreme)	55.0	December 4
6	7.3	1	Taiwan, off the east coast of	VI (Strong)	25.0	January 25
= 7	7.2	0	Japan, Izu Islands	X (Extreme)	59.8	February 29
= 7	7.2	0	Fiji, south of	( )	495.8	March 30
= 7	7.2	0	Australia, west of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea	( )	409.9	April 28
= 8	7.1	0	Taiwan, off the east coast of	V (Moderate)	25.0	January 25
= 8	7.1	0	Tonga	( )	222.1	May 22
= 9	7.0	0	New Hebrides, Vanuatu	VII (Very strong)	35.0	January 23
= 9	7.0	0	Taiwan, off the east coast of Taiwan	VII (Very strong)	22.2	April 24
= 9	7.0	0	France, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia	VII (Very strong)	20.0	November 2

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
1^[1]	Fiji	6.8	10.0
4^[2]^[3]	Taiwan, off the east coast	6.9	28.0	VI	Foreshock to event on January 25.
6^[4]^[5]	Australia, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea	6.1	162.3	IV
7^[6]^[7]	Indonesia, Papua (province)	6.0	30.0	VI
8^[8]	Taiwan, south of	6.7	25.0
12^[9]	Brazil, Amazonas (Brazilian state)	6.4	569.1
15^[10]^[11]	China, southern Xinjiang Province	6.2	10.2	VIII
18^[12]^[13]	Australia, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea	6.6	25.7	rowspan="2"\| Doublet earthquake.
19^[14]^[15]	Australia, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea	6.6	20.0	VII
20^[16]^[17]	Afghanistan, Badakhshan Province	6.2	211.9	IV
21^[18]	Brazil, Amazonas (Brazilian state)	6.1	563.7		Aftershock of event from January 12.
23^[19]^[20]	New Hebrides, Vanuatu	7.0	35.0	VII
25^[21]^[22]^[23]	Taiwan, off the east coast	7.3	25.0	rowspan="2"\| 1 person died and 5 homes collapsed. Some damage was reported. Doublet earthquake.	1
25^[24]^[25]^[26]	Taiwan, off the east coast	7.1	25.0	VI
26^[27]	Fiji	6.5	643.0
28^[28]	New Hebrides, Vanuatu	6.3	125.0

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
4^[29]^[30]	Italy, offshore Ancona	4.8	25.0		1 person was killed and another 2 were injured. Some damage was caused.	1	2
8^[31]	Philippines, Babuyan Islands	6.1	15.0
9^[32]	Chile, Magallanes Region	6.0	15.0
10^[33]^[34]	Iran, Bushehr province	4.5	15.0		Major damage was caused.
12^[35]	Tonga	6.0	17.7
14^[36]^[37]	United Kingdom, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands	7.4	101.8	VII
29^[38]^[39]^[40]	Japan, Izu Islands	7.2	59.8	X	Some damage was caused.

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
1^[41]	Tonga	6.0	10.0
7^[42]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.6	200.0
19^[43]^[44]	Japan, off the east coast of Honshu	6.2	71.3	V
20^[45]^[46]^[47]	Peru, San Martin Region	6.4	55.0	IX	7 people were killed and 50 were injured. $20 million (1972 rate) in property damage was caused.	7	50
22^[48]	Soviet Union, Kuril Islands, Russia	6.8	138.9
25^[49]	Australia, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea	6.5	30.0
25^[50]^[51]	Soviet Union, Kuril Islands, Russia	6.3	45.4	VI
30^[52]	Fiji, south of	7.2	495.8

List of earthquakes in 1972

Overall

By death toll

By magnitude

Notable events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

References

Related Articles

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.3 M_w Taiwan
Deadliest	7.3 M_w Taiwan 1 death
Total fatalities	1
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	3
6.0–6.9	13

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.4 M_w United Kingdom, Solomon Islands
Deadliest	4.8 M_w Italy 1 death
Total fatalities	1
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	2
6.0–6.9	3

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.2 M_w Fiji
Deadliest	6.4 M_w Peru 7 deaths
Total fatalities	7
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	7

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.5 M_w Philippines
Deadliest	6.6 M_w Iran 30,000 deaths
Total fatalities	30,004
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	3
6.0–6.9	8

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.1 M_w Tonga
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.7 M_w Celebes Sea
Deadliest	6.3 M_w Afghanistan 11 deaths
Total fatalities	11
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.6 M_w United States
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	1

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.5 M_w Australia, Papua New Guinea
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	10

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.8 M_w Indonesia
Deadliest	6.2 M_w Pakistan 100 deaths
Total fatalities	100
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	19

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.7 M_w Mexico
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	6

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.0 M_w France, New Caledonia
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	6

Number by magnitude
Strongest	8.0 M_w Philippines
Deadliest	6.3 M_w Nicaragua 10,000 deaths
Total fatalities	10,000
8.0–8.9	1
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5