Earthquakes in 1954

The USGS located 304 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more worldwide in 1954, 109 of them magnitude 6 or more, and 560 of magnitude 2.5 or more in the United States. The largest: M7.8 Strait of Gibraltar, Mar 29, 1954.

From the USGS catalog. Magnitude 4.5 and up worldwide, and 2.5 and up in the United States. Times are local to each quake.

1953 1955

Map

Where the largest earthquakes of 1954 were located. Select one for its page.

Open the live map with earthquakes

The largest

The 25 largest of 1954, by magnitude.

Month by month

Counted by UTC date, which is how the catalog files them.

Month	Quakes	Largest	Where
January 1954	80	6.8	off the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand
February 1954	56	7.2	Volcano Islands, Japan region
March 1954	147	7.8	Strait of Gibraltar
April 1954	55	7.2	94 km SSW of La Libertad, Mexico
May 1954	73	6.4	154 km SE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
June 1954	36	6.9	35 km SSE of Nabire, Indonesia
July 1954	84	6.9	153 km ENE of Wuwei, China
August 1954	65	7.2	Volcano Islands, Japan region
September 1954	52	6.7	northern Algeria
October 1954	43	6.8	21 km ENE of Lata, Solomon Islands
November 1954	34	6.8	123 km W of Ferndale, California
December 1954	57	7.1	The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake

By state

Where the year’s United States quakes of magnitude 2.5 and up were located. A state with none that year is not listed.

By country

Where the year’s quakes of magnitude 4.5 and up were located. Quakes at sea, away from any country, are not counted here.

What this means

The catalog is only as complete as the instruments of the time. Worldwide coverage of magnitude 5 and up dates from the 1960s, and of 4.5 from the 1990s; earlier years hold the large quakes and the ones near a station, so a low count in an early year means fewer instruments, not a quiet earth.

By year

Every year the USGS catalog covers.

2020s2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
2010s2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2000s2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
1990s1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
1980s1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1970s1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1960s1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1950s1950 1951 1952 195319541955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1940s1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1930s1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1920s1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1910s1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1900s1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

Sources

Earthquakes, magnitudes, depths, shaking estimates and felt reports from the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program, read from its live feeds and its catalog back to 1900. Tsunami messages from NOAA’s tsunami warning centers.