April 15, 1978 Earthquake: Sicily, Italy
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Sicily, Italy on April 15, 1978 at 23:33:47 UTC, 14 km below the surface. It killed 5 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
- April 15, 1978
- Time
- 23:33:47 UTC
- Place
- Sicily, Italy
- Magnitude
- 5.7 (Ms)
- Focal depth
- 14 km (9 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 38.391° N, 15.066° E
- Country
- Italy
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 400
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.
- December 28, 1908, Messina, Sicily, Calabria, Italy
- January 9, 1693, Sicily, Calabria, Catania, Italy
- January 11, 1693, Sicily, Calabria, Italy
- February 5, 1783, Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy
- February 4, 1169, Siracusa (Syracuse), Calabria, Sicily, Italy
- 1137, Catania, Sicily, Italy
- August 6, 1757, Siracusa (Syracuse), Italy
- September 16, 1857, Calabria,montemurro, Italy
- March 27, 1638, Cosenza,martirano, Nicastro, Calabria, Italy
- November 5, 1659, Panaija, Soriano, Polia, Italy
- February 6, 1783, Messina Straits, Italy
- 1086, Siracusa (Syracuse), Italy
- January 21, 1065, Catania,messina,milazzo,pale, Sicily, Italy
- April 24, 1836, Rossano,crosia,craco,basilicata, Italy
- September 8, 1905, Monteleone, Tropea, Monte Poro, Italy
More
Significant earthquakes of 1978The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1978Recent 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 4801.