List of earthquakes in 1981

Earthquakes in 1981
4.0–5.9 magnitude; 6.0–6.9 magnitude; ; ;	7.0–7.9 magnitude; 8.0+ magnitude; ;
Strongest	7.7 Mw Samoa
Deadliest	6.7 Mw Iran; 3,000 deaths.
Total fatalities	6,762
Number by magnitude
9.0+	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	10
6.0–6.9	76
5.0–5.9	1,176
4.0–4.9	3,160
	← 1980 1982 →

This is a list of earthquakes in 1981. Earthquakes of less than magnitude 6 are not included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. Events in remote areas will not be listed but included in statistics and maps. Countries are entered on the lists in order of their status in this particular year. All dates are listed according to UTC time. Maximum intensities are indicated on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale and are sourced from United States Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap data. 1981 was another year of below average activity. The number of magnitude 7.0+ events was higher than in 1980, but at 10 was still below normal. The largest event was a magnitude 7.7 which struck Samoa in September. Other areas impacted by large events were Greece, New Zealand, Mexico, and Chile. Out of the 6,700 deaths in 1981, the majority were in Iran. Over the summer there were two large events caused 3,000 deaths and 1,500 deaths. In January, Indonesia and China were struck by events which left a combined 450 deaths.

Strongest7.7

Samoa

Deadliest6.7

Iran
3,000 deaths.

Total fatalities6,762

9.0+0

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Rank	Death toll	Magnitude	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	3,000	6.7	Iran, Kerman Province	VIII (Severe)	33.0	June 11
1	1,500	7.1	Iran, Kerman Province	X (Extreme)	33.0	July 28
2	305	6.7	Indonesia, Papua (province)	VII (Very strong)	33.0	January 19
3	220	6.2	Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan	VI (Strong)	33.0	September 12
4	150	6.8	China, Sichuan Province	IX (Violent)	33.0	January 23
5	22	6.7	Greece, Thessaly	IX (Violent)	33.0	February 24
6	15	5.4	Colombia, Norte de Santander Department	VII (Very strong)	53.6	October 18
7	12	4.6	Italy, Campania	VIII (Severe)	10.0	February 14
8	10	5.2	Peru, Huancavelica Region	VI (Strong)	23.7	June 22

Rank	Magnitude	Death toll	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	7.7	1	Western Samoa	VI (Strong)	25.0	September 1
2	7.6	0	New Zealand, off the south coast of South Island	IV (Light)	33.0	May 25
3	7.3	3	Mexico, Guerrero	VIII (Severe)	33.0	October 25
= 4	7.2	1	Chile, off the coast of Valparaíso Region	VI (Strong)	33.0	October 16
= 4	7.2	0	Greece, Aegean Sea	VII (Very strong)	10.0	December 19
= 5	7.1	3,000	Iran, Kerman Province	X (Extreme)	33.0	July 28
= 5	7.1	0	New Zealand, Kermadec Islands	( )	33.0	December 26
= 6	7.0	0	United States, Near Islands, Alaska	V (Moderate)	33.0	January 30
= 6	7.0	0	France, southeast of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia	( )	33.0	July 6
= 6	7.0	0	Vanuatu	V (Moderate)	30.0	July 15

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
18^[1]^[2]	Japan, off the east coast of Honshu	6.9	33.0	V	A large foreshock of magnitude 6.2 struck minutes earlier.
19^[3]^[4]^[5]	Indonesia, Papua (province)	6.7	33.0	VII	305 people were killed in the 1981 Irian Jaya earthquake. At least 51 people were injured. Property damage costs were $5 million (1981 rate).	305	51
22^[6]	Japan, off the east coast of Honshu	6.4	20.0		Aftershock of January 18 event.
23^[7]^[8]	Japan, southern Hokkaido	6.3	116.0	VI
23^[9]^[10]^[11]	China, Sichuan Province	6.8	33.0	IX	The 1981 Dawu earthquake caused 150 deaths and 489 injuries. 2,992 homes were destroyed. Costs reached $5 million (1981 rate).	150	489
30^[12]^[13]	United States, Rat Islands, Alaska	7.0	33.0	V

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
1^[14]^[15]	Algeria, Aïn Defla Province	5.7	10.0	VII	Homes that were previously damaged in the 1980 El Asnam earthquake in October 1980 were destroyed.
14^[16]^[17]^[18]	Italy, Campania	4.6	10.0	VIII	12 people died and some property damage was reported. Costs were $500,000 (1981 rate).	12
17^[19]	France, southeast of Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia	6.7	29.9
18^[20]^[21]	South Africa, western Transvaal (part of the present-day province of North West)	4.7	33.0	VI	4 deaths were caused in a mine.	4
24^[22]^[23]^[24]	Greece, Thessaly	6.7	33.0	IX	The 1981 Gulf of Corinth earthquakes were a series of events that caused destruction across central Greece in late February and early March. This event left 22 people dead and 400 injured. 8,000 homes were destroyed. Damage costs were $812 million (1981 rate).	22	400
25^[25]^[26]	Greece, Gulf of Corinth	6.4	33.0	IX	Further casualties and damage were caused.

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
4^[27]^[28]^[29]	Greece, Thessaly	6.4	28.5	IX	The 1981 Gulf of Corinth earthquakes were a series of events that caused destruction across central Greece in late February and early March. 1 person was killed and 9 people were injured. Further damage was caused.	1	9
7^[30]^[31]	Greece, Attica (region)	5.5	33.0	VI	1 person died and further damage was caused.	1
10^[32]^[33]^[34]	Greece, Epirus	5.6	31.1	VIII	2 people were killed and 150 homes were destroyed.	2
23^[35]^[36]	Chile, off the coast of Valparaíso Region	6.2	46.3	VI

List of earthquakes in 1981

By death toll

By magnitude

By month

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

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Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.0 M_w United States
Deadliest	6.8 M_w Indonesia 305 deaths
Total fatalities	455
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	11
5.0–5.9	125
4.0–4.9	233

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.7 M_w 2 events reached this magnitude.
Deadliest	6.7 M_w Greece 22 deaths
Total fatalities	38
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	6
5.0–5.9	101
4.0–4.9	248

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.4 M_w 2 events reached this magnitude.
Deadliest	5.6 M_w Greece 2 deaths
Total fatalities	4
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	111
4.0–4.9	242

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.9 M_w Vanuatu
Deadliest	5.3 M_w Peru 8 deaths
Total fatalities	8
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	84
4.0–4.9	265

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.6 M_w New Zealand
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	97
4.0–4.9	247

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.7 M_w Iran
Deadliest	6.7 M_w Iran 3,000 deaths
Total fatalities	3,011
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	7
5.0–5.9	90
4.0–4.9	266

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.1 M_w Iran
Deadliest	7.1 M_w Iran 1,500 deaths
Total fatalities	1,500
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	3
6.0–6.9	3
5.0–5.9	100
4.0–4.9	343

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.0 M_w Soviet Union, Russia
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	1
5.0–5.9	78
4.0–4.9	283

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.7 M_w Western Samoa
Deadliest	6.2 M_w Pakistan 220 deaths
Total fatalities	221
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	9
5.0–5.9	102
4.0–4.9	309

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.3 M_w Mexico
Deadliest	5.4 M_w Colombia 15 deaths
Total fatalities	19
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	2
6.0–6.9	8
5.0–5.9	91
4.0–4.9	229

Number by magnitude
Strongest	6.9 M_w Papua New Guinea
Total fatalities	0
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	0
6.0–6.9	11
5.0–5.9	96
4.0–4.9	226

Number by magnitude
Strongest	7.2 M_w Greece
Deadliest	4.6 M_w Pakistan 6 deaths
Total fatalities	6
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	2
6.0–6.9	5
5.0–5.9	101
4.0–4.9	269