List of earthquakes in 1987

Earthquakes in 1987
4.0–5.9 magnitude; 6.0–6.9 magnitude;	7.0–7.9 magnitude; 8.0+ magnitude;
Strongest magnitude	7.9 Mw United States
Deadliest	7.1 Mw Ecuador; 1,000 deaths
Total fatalities	1,090
Number by magnitude
9.0+	0
	← 1986 1988 →

Strongest magnitude7.9

United States

Deadliest7.1

Ecuador
1,000 deaths

Total fatalities1,090

9.0+0

This is a list of earthquakes in 1987. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. All dates are listed according to UTC time.

Rank	Magnitude	Deaths	Location	MMI	Depth (km)	Date
1	7.1	1,000	Ecuador, Napo	IX (Violent)	10.0	March 6
2	6.7	37	Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara	VII (Very strong)	33.0	November 26

Rank	Magnitude	Deaths	Location	Max Intensity	Depth (km)	Date (MM-DD)
1	7.9	0	United States, Alaska offshore	VI (Strong)	10.0	November 30
2	7.6	1	Chile, Antofagasta	VI (Strong)	62.3	March 5
2	7.4	0	Papua New Guinea, West New Britain offshore	VIII (Severe)	47.8	October 16
2	7.4	0	Australia, Macquarie Island offshore	I (Not felt)	33.0	September 3
2	7.4	3	Papua New Guinea, Morobe offshore	VII (Very strong)	54.9	February 8
6	7.3	0	Tonga, Vava'u offshore	IV (Light)	16.0	October 6
7	7.2	5	Chile, Tarapacá	VII (Very strong)	69.7	September 8
7	7.2	1,000	Ecuador, Napo	IX (Violent)	10.0	March 6
9	7.1	0	Indonesia, Banda Sea offshore	V (Moderate)	67.3	June 17
10	7.0	0	Papua New Guinea, Bougainville offshore	V (Moderate)	24.7	October 12
10	7.0	0	Argentina, Jujuy	IV (Light)	248.7	April 1
10	7.0	0	Chile, Antofagasta offshore	IV (Light)	34.8	March 5
10	7.0	0	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Sandwich Islands offshore	I (Not felt)	47.6	January 30

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
2^[1]	Egypt, Ismailia	5.0	24.1	V	Minor damage occurred in Ismailia.	-	-
3^[2]	Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Sea offshore	6.2	5.0	I	This two similarly sized earthquakes occurring an hour apart can be considered a doublet earthquake.	-	-
3^[3]	Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Sea offshore	6.3	5.0	I		-	-
3^[4]	Vanuatu, Sanma	6.7	14.5	VII	-	-	-
4^[5]	Panama, Chiriquí offshore	6.3	10.0	I	-	-	-
5^[6]	United States, Alaska offshore	6.8	33.0	V	-	-	-
5^[7]	China, Xinjiang	5.7	16.5	VII	Several people were injured and damage occurred in Baicheng.	-	Several
7^[8]	Albania, Korçë	5.0	13.5	VI	Damage occurred in Ersekë and Gostivisht.	-	-
9^[9]	Japan, Iwate	6.6	66.7	VI	Minor damage occurred in Morioka and Ōfunato.	-	-
9^[10]	Tonga, Tongatapu offshore	6.5	33.0	I	-	-	-
11^[11]	Iran, Fars	4.9	9.7	VI	300 houses were damaged in Doshman Ziari.	-	-
13^[12]	Colombia, Chocó offshore	6.0	10.0	II	-	-	-
13^[13]	southern East Pacific Rise	6.0	10.0	I	-	-	-
14^[14]	Japan, Hokkaido	6.8	102.0	VI	Six people were injured.	-	6
15^[15]	El Salvador, La Libertad	4.0	10.0	IV	This is an aftershock of the 1986 San Salvador earthquake. Additional damage was caused, with many structures previously damaged by the October event collapsed.	-	-
22^[16]	Italy, Tuscany offshore	4.2	21.6	IV	Two people died of heart attacks.	2	-
24^[17]	China, Xinjiang	6.2	28.9	VII	417 houses were damaged in Wushi.	-	-
26^[18]	Algeria, Chlef	4.9	10.0	VI	One person was killed, another seven were injured, and 629 houses were damaged in Mohammadia.	1	7
30^[19]	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Sandwich Islands offshore	7.0	47.6	I	-	-	-

Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Casualties
Date	Country and location	M_w	Depth (km)	MMI	Notes	Dead	Injured
6^[20]	Japan, Fukushima offshore	6.4	35.6	IV	It is a foreshock of the 6.8 quake an hour later.	-	-
6^[21]	Japan, Fukushima offshore	6.8	47.7	V	Small tsunamis were observed, the largest having 12 cm at Onahama.	-	-
7^[22]	Papua New Guinea, Morobe offshore	6.2	27.4	VI	It is a foreshock of the 7.4 event two days later.	-	-

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
Historical earthquakes Lists of earthquakes

List of earthquakes in 1987

By magnitude

By month

January

February

References

Notes

Related Articles

Number by magnitude
Strongest magnitude	7.0 M_w South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Deadliest	4.2 M_w Italy 2 deaths
Total fatalities	3
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	12

Number by magnitude
Strongest magnitude	7.4 M_w Papua New Guinea
Deadliest	7.4 M_w Papua New Guinea 3 deaths
Total fatalities	3
8.0–8.9	0
7.0–7.9	1
6.0–6.9	18

v t e ← Earthquakes in 1987 →
Edgecumbe (6.5, Mar 2) Ecuador (7.1, Mar 6) † ‡ Whittier Narrows (5.9, Oct 1) Santiago de Chuco (5.6, Oct 2) Imperial County (6.2, 6.6, Nov 23, 24)
† indicates earthquake resulting in at least 30 deaths ‡ indicates the deadliest earthquake of the year