1734 Earthquake: Southern Lowland, Iceland
An earthquake struck Southern Lowland, Iceland in 1734.
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
- 1734
- Place
- Southern Lowland, Iceland
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Country
- Iceland
- Region
- Northern and Western Europe
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
50% of all houses or more totally collapsed in an earthquake in the southern lowland. (from reference #1125)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1125 Stefansson, R. (1979). Catastrophic Earthquakes in Iceland, Tectonophysics, vol. 53, p. 273-278.
More
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 7263.