December 18, 1926 Earthquake: Lisbon, Portugal
An earthquake struck Lisbon, Portugal on December 18, 1926 at 14:45 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
- December 18, 1926
- Time
- 14:45 UTC
- Place
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Intensity
- 6 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 38.700° N, 9.200° W
- Country
- Portugal
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
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.
1926 December 19. Portugal. Severe earthquakes at Lisbon. The waters of the Tagus River rose considerably and soon the water was covered with thousands of fish. (reference #41)
1926 December 18. Reference #2076 reports damage in Lisbon, Caneças and Odivelas
On 18 December 1926, an earthquake occurred in Lisbon, at 2:45 p.m.The epicenter coordinates attributed by Martins and Victor (2001) are: −9.20 E and 38.70 N. (reference #4649)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- January 26, 1531, Lisbon, Portugal
- January 28, 1551, Lisbon, Portugal
- 1151, Lisbon, Portugal
- April 23, 1909, Ribatejo, Benavente, Portugal
- June 6, 1807, Lisbon, Portugal
- November 11, 1858, Setubal, Portugal
- March 6, 1719, Algarve, Spain, Portugal
- December 26, 1764, Lisbon, Portugal
- December 19, 1847, Lisbon, Portugal
- March 29, 1756, Lisbon, Portugal
- July 28, 1597, Monte Santo, Lisbon, Portugal
- July 22, 1598, Monte Santo, Lisbon, Portugal
- 1344, Lisbon, Portugal
- April 5, 1772, Lisbon, Portugal
- April 28, 1752, Buarcos, Aveiro, Portugal
More
Significant earthquakes of 1926The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1926Recent 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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 10547.