January 19, 1866 Earthquake: Aegean Sea, Greece
An earthquake struck Aegean Sea, Greece on January 19, 1866. 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
- January 19, 1866
- Place
- Aegean Sea, Greece
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 38.250° N, 26.200° E
- Country
- Greece
- Region
- Southern Europe
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses damaged
- 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.
1866, January 19-21. Asia Minor, Chios. Intensity I which corresponds to an earthquake of intensity sufficient to crack walls, break chimneys, to shatter old buildings or to produce cracks in the ground. (reference #1055)
1866 Jan 19, Chios. Another series of strong earthquakes occurred in the island of Chios. Many houses were damaged progressively, the sequence lasting until 20 March. It is said that during the earthquake the sea between Chios and the mainland became agitated and columns of smoke were seen rising from its surface. These shocks were not reported from nearby Izmir (Schmidt 1897; Perrey 1870, 38, 42; Fuchs 1886). (reference #9116)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1055 Milne, John (1911). Catalogue of Destructive Earthquakes [7 to 1899 A.D.], Report of the 81st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Portsmouth, London, United Kingdom, p. 649-740.
- #9116 Ambraseys, Nicolas (2009). Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East, A Multidisciplinary Study of Seismicity up to 1900. Cambridge University Press, 947 p.
- #11164 Maramai, Alessandra, Beatriz Brizuela, Laura Graziani (2014). The Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue. Annals of Geophysics, vol. 57, no. 4. DOI:10.4401/ag-6437
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- July 10, 1668, Turkey
- July 10, 1688, Izmir, Turkey
- October 15, 1883, Ayvalik, Izmir, Cesme, Turkey
- April 3, 1881, Cesme, Khios, Turkey, Greece
- October 1491, Kos, Greece
- February 23, 1653, Izmir,alasehir,denizli,aydin, Turkey
- 688, Izmir, Turkey
- March 7, 1867, Izmir, Mitilini, Turkey, Greece
- August 6, 1384, Lesbos, Greece
- April 23, 1933, Dodecanese Islands, Greece
- March 31, 1928, Tepekoy, Torbali, Turkey
- October 30, 2020, Izmir, Samos, Turkey, Greece
- July 9, 1956, Dodecanese, Greece
- March 28, 1969, Alasehir, Sarigol, Kiraz, Turkey
- September 21, 1939, Turkey
More
Significant earthquakes of 1866The 1800sRecent 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 10154.