Significant earthquakes of 1765

April 1765 Earthquake: Dominica

April 1765

An earthquake struck Dominica in April 1765. It caused a tsunami.

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
April 1765
Place
Dominica
Intensity
IV, light shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Epicenter
15.400° N, 61.400° W
Country
Dominica
Region
Caribbean

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

1765 March 15 (and following night), Island of Dominica. Shocks more violence than any previously felt in this island. More than 150 shock were reckoned here in February and March. They continued up to 30th June. April 05, More violent shocks (reference #496, #501)

Reference #14362 cites newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti (Russia) stating “On the 10th of April, a significant portion of Dominica Island, along with all its structures and inhabitants, collapsed and was submerged by the sea following a series of successive earthquakes”; however, this damage is not corroborated elsewhere as of yet.

Sources NCEI cites

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

  1. #496 Mallet, Robert (1854). Catalogue of Recorded Earthquakes from 1606 B.C. to A.D. 1850, Part II, 1755 A.D. to 1784 A.D., Report of the 23rd Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hull, Sept. 1853, John Murray, London, p. 118-212.
  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. #1681 Feuillard, M. (1985). Macroseismicite de la Guadeloupe et de la Martinique. Observatoire volcanologique de la Soufriere (Guadeloupe)
  4. #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.
  5. #14362 Nikonov A.A., Fleifel L.D. (2020). Register of water disturbances of the 18th century, not included in the global and regional tsunami catalogs // In: Unusual and extreme phenomena of the 18th century, issue 3, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, p.188- 201. (in Russian)

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1765The 1700sRecent earthquakes near here

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 10996.