May 18, 1980 Earthquake: Serbia, Balkans NW
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Serbia, Balkans NW on May 18, 1980 at 20:02:57 UTC, 9 km below the surface.
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
- May 18, 1980
- Time
- 20:02:57 UTC
- Place
- Serbia, Balkans NW
- Magnitude
- 5.8 (Ms)
- Magnitude scales
- Ms 5.8 · mb 5.7
- Focal depth
- 9 km (6 mi)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 43.294° N, 20.837° E
- Country
- Serbia
- Region
- Southern Europe
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Injuries
- 30; 50 with its tsunami and other effects
- Damage
- $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.
Magnitude estimates
The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.8 | Ms, surface-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.9 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.9 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Thirty people injured and many buildings destroyed (VIII) or damaged at Aleksandrovac, Brus, Kursumlija, and Raska. Landslides were reported in the area. Also felt in southern Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. (reference #1053)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
- #1054 McClelland, Lindsay, et al, editors (1980-1989). SEAN Bulletin, a monthly publication of the Scientific Event Alert Network of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
- #1066 Mengin, O., editor (1980 to Present). UNDRO News, a bimonthly publication of the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization Coordinator, Geneva, Switzerland, 1980 to present.
- #1250 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) (2001). EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, link
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- July 26, 1963, Skopje, Macedonia, Balkans NW, North Macedonia
- April 15, 1979, Montenegro, Balkans NW
- June 1, 1905, Shkoder, Albania
- August 27, 1942, Peshkopia, Magellare, Albania
- February 25, 1983, Skopje, Macedonia, Balkans NW, North Macedonia
- April 8, 1893, Popovic, NW, Balkans, Serbia
- November 3, 2010, Kraljevo, Serbia, Balkans NW
- April 24, 2002, N, Kosovo, Macedonia, Balkans NW, Serbia
- September 29, 1998, Belgrade, Ljig, Valjevo, Serbia, Balkans NW
- November 3, 1968, Montenegro, Balkans NW
- September 10, 1983, Serbia, Balkans NW
- April 13, 1978, Brus, Serbia, Balkans NW
- September 7, 1984, Serbia, Balkans NW
- February 4, 1739, Serbia, Balkans NW
- May 15, 1927, Serbia, Balkans NW
More
Significant earthquakes of 1980The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1980Recent 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 4877. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp00017a5, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.