The earthquake of 28 February 1969
M 7.8 MW
At 02:40 UTC on 28 February 1969 the largest earthquake in this catalogue ruptured beneath the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain, about 200 km south-west of Cape St. Vincent.
It woke people across Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Damage was heaviest in the Algarve, and around a dozen deaths in Portugal are attributed to it, most of them indirectly. Tide gauges recorded a small tsunami. IPMA report.
The source lies near the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates, in the same region thought to have produced the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. For many families it is the earthquake that parents and grandparents still talk about.
Azores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
Mainland · 18.0 km deep · 36.07°, -10.65°
Magnitude by ISC Event Bibliography
Source: ISC · USGS
Nearby earthquakes
204 other earthquakes within 50 km in the week before and after. The 8 largest are listed.
- M 6.2 · 28 February 1969 · 04:25 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 5.0 · 6 March 1969 · 19:23 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.6 · 28 February 1969 · 09:59 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.6 · 5 March 1969 · 02:57 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.5 · 28 February 1969 · 04:45 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.5 · 2 March 1969 · 18:01 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.4 · 28 February 1969 · 15:20 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge
- M 4.3 · 28 February 1969 · 16:21 UTCAzores-Cape St. Vincent Ridge