October 1491 Earthquake: Kos, Greece

Date

October 1491

Place

Kos, Greece

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

36.900° N, 27.000° E

Country

Greece

Deaths

5,000

Damage

Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

• July 10, 1668, TurkeyM6.6 · 17,500 deaths · 167 km
• July 10, 1688, Izmir, TurkeyM7 · 16,000 deaths · 167 km
• October 15, 1883, Ayvalik, Izmir, Cesme, TurkeyM7.3 · 15,000 deaths · 3,600 houses destroyed · 171 km
• April 3, 1881, Cesme, Khios, Turkey, GreeceM7.3 · 7,866 deaths · 164 km
• February 23, 1653, Izmir,alasehir,denizli,aydin, TurkeyM7.5 · 2,500 deaths · 179 km
• 688, Izmir, Turkey2,000 deaths · 168 km
• September 20, 1899, Sultanhisar,atca,nazilli,kuyucak,denizli, TurkeyM6.7 · 1,117 deaths · 7,126 houses destroyed · 199 km
• October 12, 1856, Crete, Egypt, Greece600 deaths · 8,000 houses destroyed · 180 km
• April 22, 1863, Rhodes, Kos, GreeceM7.8 · 300 deaths · 2,050 houses destroyed · 100 km
• April 23, 1933, Dodecanese Islands, GreeceM6.4 · 181 deaths · 31 km
• March 31, 1928, Tepekoy, Torbali, TurkeyM6.5 · 170 deaths · 2,600 houses destroyed · 138 km
• October 30, 2020, Izmir, Samos, Turkey, GreeceM7 · 118 deaths · $400 million · 112 km
• July 9, 1956, Dodecanese, GreeceM7.7 · 56 deaths · 529 houses destroyed · 97 km
• July 29, 1880, TurkeyM6.7 · 30 deaths · 189 km
• July 16, 1955, Samos, Soke, Aydin, Greece, TurkeyM6.6 · 23 deaths · 84 km

Significant earthquakes of 1491The 1400sRecent earthquakes near here

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 646.