November 30, 1986 Earthquake: Joao Camara, Natal, Brazil
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Joao Camara, Natal, Brazil on November 30, 1986 at 05:19:48 UTC, 5 km below the surface. It killed 1 person.
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
- November 30, 1986
- Time
- 05:19:48 UTC
- Place
- Joao Camara, Natal, Brazil
- Magnitude
- 4.8 (Ms)
- Magnitude scales
- Ms 4.8 · mb 4.9 · Unspecified 5.1
- Focal depth
- 5 km (3 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 5.494° S, 35.769° W
- Country
- Brazil
- Region
- South America
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. Unspecified: the method was not stated in the published sources. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Damage
- $5 million
- Houses destroyed
- 500
- Houses damaged
- 3,500
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.
From Wikipedia
The 1986 João Câmara earthquake (Portuguese: Sismo de João Câmara de 1986) struck on 30 November 1986 at 02:19 Brasília Time with a moment magnitude of 5.1 near the town of João Câmara, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The event was felt over a large area of northeastern Brazil, including the cities of Natal and Mossoró. It took place in a more seismically active part of Brazil, where deformation of land at the Brasiliano orogeny between the São Francisco and São Luís cratons formed a series of fault zones in between 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. The 1986 João Câmara earthquake occurred on one of these fault zones while accompanied by a lengthy series of earthquakes which consisted more than 1,000 recorded events. This mainshock was preceded by a series of foreshocks that began in August and was followed by a series of aftershocks which continued until 1990. Widespread damage to buildings at João Câmara occurred and thousands of people were displaced. The earthquake is widely remembered as one of the most significant events in Brazil's history.
Text from Wikipedia, “1986 João Câmara earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Approximately 1,500 homes damaged in the Joao Camara area. Felt at Natal. CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 9S, 15C Centroid Location: Origin Time 05:19:53.9 1.4 Lat 5.41S 0.09 Lon 35.90W 0.13 Dep 15.0 FIX Half-duration 1.5 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**23 D-CM Mrr=-1.03 0.42 Mtt=5.85 0.38 Mff=-4.81 0.47 Mrt=0.00 0.00 Mrf=0.00 0.00 Mtf=0.94 0.50 Principal Axes: (T) Val=5.93 Plg=0 Azm=175 (N) Val=-1.03 Plg=90 Azm=180 (P) Val=-4.89 Plg=0 Azm=85 Best Double Couple:Mo=5.4*10**23 NP1:Strike=220 Dip=90 Slip=180 NP2:Strike=310 Dip=90 Slip=0
From the USGS event page for usp00030gs. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Mw, moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.1 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.1 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #1053 lists earthquake on Nov 30, 1986, approximately 1,500 homes damaged in the Joao Camara, Brazil, area. Felt at Natal.
Reference #1250 lists earthquake on Dec 12, 1986, in Brazil, severe damage, 1 dead, 8,000 homeless, and 15,000 evacuated, 20 houses destroyed and 1,500 damaged, $5 million damage. [probably describing earthquake on Nov 30]
Some 14,000 events were recorded in the 18 months from August 1986, including fifteen above magnitude 4.0 and one of 5.1; 4000 buildings were damaged […] Damage to property in the largest event was extensive in and around Joao Camara; some damage also resulted from the earlier events of August and September 1986. Of 4000 houses damaged or destroyed, 500 were completely rebuilt,(reference #14082)
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.
- #1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- #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
- #14082 Takeya, M., Ferreira, J.M., Pearce, R.G., Assumpção, M., Costa, J.M. and Sophia, C.M. (1989). The 1986–1988 intraplate earthquake sequence near Joao Camara, northeast Brazil, evolution of seismicity. Tectonophysics, 167(2-4), 117-131.
More
Significant earthquakes of 1986The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1986Recent 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 5118. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp00030gs, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.