February 2, 1816 Earthquake: Lisbon, Portugal
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Lisbon, Portugal on February 2, 1816 at 00:40 UTC. 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
- February 2, 1816
- Time
- 00:40 UTC
- Place
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Magnitude
- 7 (mb)
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Country
- Portugal
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.
1816 Feb 02, 00:40. At Lisbon a severe shock which lasted nearly a whole minute or according to others, 1.5 or minutes. The oscillations appeared to bee from NE to SW and were followed by others of shorter duration. Felt in Lisbon and to the distance of 300 leagues to the west. Also felt in Madeira and in Holland. (reference #497)
1816 Feb 02, 00:40 magnitude 7 (reference #12956)
It is listed in Rodriguez (1932) earthquake catalog and is reported in the Lisbon newspaper Gazeta de Lisboa. The original source just mentions a “light shock” and no reference is made to a tsunami or any sea agitation, while Rodriguez (1932) refers a strong shock and states that a ship 270 leagues away from Lisbon felt the shock. (reference #4649)
More
Significant earthquakes of 1816The 1800sThis 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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 10549.