List of earthquakes in 1976

Earthquakes in 1976
4.0–5.9 magnitude; 6.0–6.9 magnitude;	7.0–7.9 magnitude; 8.0+ magnitude;
Strongest	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands, January 14 ; Philippines, Mindanao, August 16 (both Magnitude 8.0)
Deadliest	China, Hebei Province (Magnitude 7.5), July 27, 242,769 deaths
Total fatalities	286,873
Number by magnitude
9.0+	0
8.0–8.9	2
7.0–7.9	12
6.0–6.9	59
5.0–5.9	1,665
4.0–4.9	2,544
	← 1975 1977 →

Strongest

New Zealand, Kermadec Islands, January 14

Philippines, Mindanao, August 16 (both Magnitude 8.0)

Deadliest

China, Hebei Province (Magnitude 7.5), July 27, 242,769 deaths

Total fatalities286,873

9.0+0

This is a list of earthquakes in 1976. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. 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 main point of note from this year was the devastation seen across the globe from several catastrophic events. Several countries experienced their worst ever natural disasters. Chronologically, Guatemala in February suffered 23,000 deaths. Indonesia in June had an earthquake causing 6,000 deaths. China in July had officially 242,000 deaths from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. This was the worst toll from an earthquake for over 400 years. Shortly afterwards the Philippines had 8,000 fatalities. Towards the year end Turkey had an event resulting in 5,000 deaths. Although not as devastating Italy had nearly 1,000 deaths in May with subsequent aftershocks causing further destruction.

Rank	Death toll	Magnitude	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	242,769	7.5	China, Hebei Province	XI (Extreme)	23.0	July 27
2	23,000	7.5	Guatemala, Izabal Department	IX (Violent)	5.0	February 4
3	8,000	8.0	Philippines, Mindanao	VIII (Severe)	33.0	August 16
4	6,000	7.1	Indonesia, Papua (province)	VII (Very strong)	33.0	June 25
5	5,000	7.3	Turkey, Van Province	X (Extreme)	36.0	November 24
6	978	6.5	Italy, Fruili Venezia Giulia	X (Extreme)	9.0	May 6
7	573	6.5	Indonesia, Bali	VII (Very strong)	40.0	July 14
8	133	7.1	Indonesia, Papua (province)	VIII (Severe)	33.0	October 29
= 9	101	6.9	China, Yunnan	IX (Violent)	8.0	May 29
= 9	101	7.0	China, Yunnan	IX (Violent)	10.0	May 29
= 9	101	7.4	China, Hebei Province	IX (Violent)	26.0	July 28
10	49	5.6	Afghanistan, Balkh Province	VIII (Severe)	33.0	March 19
11	17	6.2	Iran, South Khorasan province	VIII (Severe)	13.0	November 7
12	11	6.0	Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia	IX (Violent)	10.0	September 15
13	10	6.7	Ecuador, Esmeraldas Province	VIII (Severe)	9.0	April 9

Rank	Magnitude	Death toll	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
= 1	8.0	0	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	VII (Very strong)	33.0	January 14
= 1	8.0	8,000	Philippines, Mindanao	VIII (Severe)	33.0	August 16
= 2	7.5	23,000	Guatemala, Izabel Department	VIII (Severe)	5.0	February 4
= 2	7.5	242,769	China, Hebei Province	XI (Extreme)	23.0	July 27
3	7.4	101	China, Hebei Province	IX (Violent)	26.0	July 28
4	7.3	5,000	Turkey, Van Province	X (Extreme)	36.0	November 24
= 5	7.1	6,000	Indonesia, Papua (province)	VII (Very strong)	33.0	June 25
= 5	7.1	133	Indonesia, Papua (province)	VIII (Severe)	33.0	October 29
= 6	7.0	0	Soviet Union, Kuril Islands, Russia	VIII (Severe)	41.0	January 21
= 6	7.0	0	Soviet Union, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan	IX (Violent)	33.0	April 8
= 6	7.0	0	Soviet Union, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan	X (Extreme)	10.0	May 17
= 6	7.0	101	China, Yunnan	IX (Violent)	10.0	May 29
= 6	7.0	0	Indonesia, Sumatra	VI (Strong)	33.0	June 20
= 6	7.0	5	Panama	IX (Violent)	3.0	July 11

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]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	7.3	42.5
6^[2]	Soviet Union, Kamchatka Krai	6.1	35.0
6^[3]	Soviet Union, Kamchatka Krai	6.3	29.1
7^[4]	Soviet Union, Kamchatka Krai	6.4	30.6
9^[5]	New Hebrides	6.3	172.1	IV
13^[6]^[7]	Iceland, Northeastern Region, 37 km (23 mi) ENE of Norðurþing	6.4	10.0	IX	Some buildings damaged at Kópasker and three homes evacuated. Several bridges also damaged in the area.^[8]
14^[9]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	7.8	45.0	VIII	Some damage reported.^[10]
14^[11]^[12]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	7.9	45.0	VII	Tsunami reported and some damage on Raoul Island.^[13]
14^[14]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.2	25.0
14^[15]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.4	25.0
15^[16]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.1	25.0
18^[17]	Norway, Svalbard and Jan Mayen	6.3	15.0
21^[18]	Russian SFSR, Kuril Islands	7.2	41.3	VI
21^[19]	Russian SFSR, Kamchatka Krai	6.3	27.5	V
22^[20]	Russian SFSR, Kuril Islands	6.1	35.9
22^[21]	Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara	6.7	614.1
24^[22]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.2	60.0
24^[23]	Russian SFSR, Kuril Islands	6.5	34.7
27^[24]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	6.1	20.0

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
4^[25]^[26]^[27]	Guatemala, Izabal 7 km (4.3 mi) north of Los Amates	7.5	5.0	IX	Further information: 1976 Guatemala earthquake	23,000	76,000
6^[28]^[29]	Papua New Guinea, Madang Province	6.0	37.0	VI
15^[30]	Philippines, northeast of Samar	6.1	33.0

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
3^[31]^[32]	Indonesia, north of Flores	6.0	30.0	V
4^[33]^[34]	New Hebrides, Vanuatu	6.4	90.0	VI
8^[35]	United Kingdom, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands	6.1	47.0
13^[36]^[37]	Papua New Guinea, west of Bougainville Island	6.1	50.0	V
13^[38]^[39]^[40]	Guatemala, Chimaltenango Department	5.9	10.0	VII	Aftershock of February 4 event; 4 people were killed and 50 were injured.	4	50
19^[41]^[42]^[43]	Afghanistan, Balkh Province	5.9	20.0	VIII	At least 49 people dead, 59 injured and 20,000 homeless. More than 1,130 homes destroyed, 559 damaged and rockslides in the Kholm and Tashkurgan area.^[44]	49	59
24^[45]	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	7.0	50.0		Aftershock of January 14 event.
25^[46]^[47]^[48]	Turkey, Ardahan Province	5.2	15.0	VI	Two people were killed and 6 were injured. Some damage was reported.	2	6

List of earthquakes in 1976

By magnitude

By month

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

References

Related Articles

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.9 M_w New Zealand
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	3
6.0–6.9	15
5.0–5.9	235
4.0–4.9	306

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.5 M_w Guatemala
Deadliest	7.5 M_w Guatemala 23,000 deaths
Total fatalities	23,000
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	2
5.0–5.9	128
4.0–4.9	189

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.8 M_w New Zealand
Deadliest	5.9 M_w Afghanistan 49 deaths
Total fatalities	55
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	119
4.0–4.9	193

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.0 M_w Soviet Union, Uzbekistan
Deadliest	6.7 M_w Ecuador 10 deaths
Total fatalities	14
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	95
4.0–4.9	204

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.0 M_w 2 events.
Deadliest	6.5 M_w Italy 990 deaths
Total fatalities	1,091
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	2
6.0–6.9	7
5.0–5.9	122
4.0–4.9	230

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.1 M_w Indonesia
Deadliest	7.1 M_w Indonesia 6,000 deaths
Total fatalities	6,000
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	2
6.0–6.9	6
5.0–5.9	130
4.0–4.9	200

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.5 M_w China
Deadliest	7.5 M_w China 242,769 deaths
Total fatalities	243,347
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	3
6.0–6.9	7
5.0–5.9	149
4.0–4.9	271

Number by magnitude
Strongest	8.0 M_w Philippines
Deadliest	8.0 M_w Philippines 8,000 deaths
Total fatalities	8,005
8.0–8.9	1
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	7
5.0–5.9	150
4.0–4.9	214

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.5 M_w New Zealand
Deadliest	6.0 M_w Italy 11 deaths
Total fatalities	16
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	3
5.0–5.9	156
4.0–4.9	198

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.3 M_w Turkey
Deadliest	7.3 M_w Turkey 5,000 deaths
Total fatalities	5,018
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	10
5.0–5.9	116
4.0–4.9	159

v t e ← Earthquakes in 1976 →
Guatemala (7.5, Feb 4) † Friuli (6.5, May 6) † Longling (7.0, May 29) Papua (7.1, June 25) † Bali (6.5, July 14) † Sabah (6.2, July 26) Tangshan (7.8, July 28) †‡ Songpan–Pingwu (6.7, Aug 16) † Moro Gulf (8.0, Aug 17) † Çaldıran–Muradiye (7.3, Nov 24) †
† indicates earthquake resulting in at least 30 deaths ‡ indicates the deadliest earthquake of the year

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.7 M_w Canada
Deadliest	5.2 M_w South Africa 4 deaths
Total fatalities	4
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	1
5.0–5.9	139
4.0–4.9	198

v t e Earthquakes by year
19th century	1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Historical earthquakes Lists of earthquakes