Significant earthquakes of 1530

September 1, 1530 Earthquake: Cumana, Venezuela

September 1, 1530 · M8 · 4 deaths

A magnitude 8 earthquake struck Cumana, Venezuela on September 1, 1530 at 14:30 UTC, 10 km below the surface. It killed 4 people, counting the tsunami it caused.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date
September 1, 1530
Time
14:30 UTC
Place
Cumana, Venezuela
Magnitude
8 (Mw)
Focal depth
10 km (6 mi)
Intensity
X, extreme shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Epicenter
10.500° N, 64.200° W
Country
Venezuela
Region
South America

The toll

Deaths
4 with its tsunami and other effects
Damage
Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with its tsunami and other effects
Houses destroyed
Many (101 to 1,000) with its tsunami and other effects

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.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Ground cracking occurred on mountains near the Gulf of Cariaco, Venezuela. "Black fetid salt water welled up out of the macaceous schist, mixed with asphaltum and accompanied by sulphurous odor" (Herrera, 1740). A fort near Cumana (Benzoni, 1565) and many houses were destroyed perhaps by the combined effects of the earthquake and tsunami.

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

  1. #364 Robson, G.R. (1964). An earthquake catalogue for the Eastern Caribbean, 1530-1960. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 54, no. 2, p. 785-832.
  2. #501 Perrey, Alexis M. (1847). Sur les tremblements de terre aux Antilles. Memoires de L'Academie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon, Annees 1845-1846, p. 325-392.
  3. #1118 Ramirez, Jesus Emilio, S.J. (1975). Historia de los Terremotos en Colombia. Instituto Geografico Agustin Codazzi. Subdireccion de Investigaciones y Divulgacion Geografica, Republica de Colombia, Second Edition, 218 p.
  4. #1189 Campbell, J.B. (1972). Earthquake History of Puerto Rico, Appendix I, Part A, Aguirre Nuclear Power Plant PSAR, Weston Geophysical Research, Inc., Weston, MA, 117 p.
  5. #1494 Benzoni, G. (1565). Istoria del Mondo Nuovo, 3, in tre librii (Italian).
  6. #1495 Herrera y Tordesillas, A. de (1726). Historia of the Vast Continent and Islands of America, 5. English translation by Capt. J. Stevens, 2nd Edition, Book 3, Wood and Woodward, London.
  7. #537 Lander, James F., Lowell W. Whiteside, and Patricia A. Lockridge (2002). A Brief History of Tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea, Science of Tsunami Hazards, the International Journal of the Tsunami Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 57-94
  8. #1064 Funvisis. El Riesgo Sismico En Venezuela, Fundacion Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismologicas (a brochure).
  9. #43 Berninghausen, William H. (1968). Tsunamis and seismic seiches reported from the western north and south Atlantic and the coastal waters of northwestern Europe. Informal Report no. 68-85, U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Washington, D.C., USA, 45 p.
  10. #1209 Askew, B.L., and S.T. Algermissen (1985). Catalog of Earthquakes for South America, Hypocenter and Intensity Data, vol. 8 - Venezuela, Centro Regional de Sismologia para America del Sur, Lima, Peru.
  11. #12526 Audemard, Franck A. M. and Alejandra F. L. Guzman (2017). Reliability of first-hand accounts on the study of historical tsunamis in northeastern Venezuela (southeastern Caribbean Sea). ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS, 60, 6, S066. DOI:10.4401/ag-7437

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1530The 1500sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Sources

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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 701.