August 31, 1977 Earthquake: Apartado, Medellin, Colombia
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Apartado, Medellin, Colombia on August 31, 1977 at 00:42:05 UTC, 33 km below the surface. It killed 3 people.
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 31, 1977
- Time
- 00:42:05 UTC
- Place
- Apartado, Medellin, Colombia
- Magnitude
- 6.5 (Ms)
- Focal depth
- 33 km (21 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 7.340° N, 76.300° W
- Country
- Colombia
The toll
- Deaths
- 3
- 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.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- October 18, 1992, Murindo, Apartado, Medellin, Colombia
- July 13, 1974, Bogota, Cali, Pereira, Colombia
- July 11, 1976, Darien, Panama
- March 1, 2021, Medellin, Betulia, Colombia
- March 9, 1883, Antioquia, Yarumal, Colombia
- October 17, 1992, Murindo, Cali, Colombia
- July 29, 2015, Unguia, Colombia, Colombia-Panama
- November 8, 2000, Jurado, Panama-Colombia
- September 26, 1970, Bahia Solano, Colombia
More
Significant earthquakes of 1977The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1977Recent 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 4780.