August 8, 1946 Earthquake: Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic on August 8, 1946 at 13:28:33 UTC, 15 km below the surface. It killed 75 people, counting the tsunami it caused.
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
- August 8, 1946
- Time
- 13:28:33 UTC
- Place
- Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic
- Magnitude
- 7.5 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 15 km (9 mi)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 19.500° N, 69.500° W
- Country
- Dominican Republic
The toll
- Deaths
- 75 with its tsunami and other effects
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.
This is an aftershock of the August 4, 1946 event. The epicenter was located 100 km northwest of the August 4 event, off the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic. The earthquake and tsunamis left 20,000 people homeless. Lynch and Bodle (1948) noted that damage occurred to: Matanzas, Cabrera, Salgado, Puerto Plata, San Francisco de Macoris, Moca, Santiago Julia Molina (Nagua), and others. Slight shocks were felt at the Virgin Islands.
1946, August 8, 13:28:28 UTC. 19.5 N, 69.5 W, magnitude 7.5 Mw, 7.6 Ms. (reference #9910)
1946, August 8, 13:28:33.8 UTC. 19.538 N, 69.657 W, magnitude 6.98 Mw, depth 15 km. (reference #10476)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- August 4, 1946, Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic
- May 9, 1673, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- June 24, 1984, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- September 22, 2003, Puerto Plata, Santiago, Dominican Republic
- November 1, 1989, Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- April 20, 1564, Concepcion DE LA Vega, Dominican Republic
- 1783, Santiago DE Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
- January 30, 1776, W, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
- December 29, 1897, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- October 16, 2003, Moca, Santiago, Dominican Republic
- May 31, 1953, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
- 1502, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- 1691, Azua, Dominican Republic
- 1684, Santo Domingo,azua, Dominican Republic
- October 18, 1751, Azua DE Compostela, Dominican Republic
More
Significant earthquakes of 1946The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1946Recent 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 3831.