PlainHazard

FEMA earthquake disaster declarations

Incident type "Earthquake" · 37 declarations · 14 states and territories

FEMA has made 37 state declarations with incident type "Earthquake" since 1954: 34 major disasters, 3 emergencies. California has had the most (14). The busiest year was 2020 (3).

Declarations per year, 1954 to 2026

State declarations per calendar year of the declaration date.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026: one declaration per disaster number and state. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Which states have the most earthquake declarations?

  1. California 14
  2. Hawaii 5
  3. Alaska 4
  4. Puerto Rico 2
  5. Washington 2
  6. Oregon 2
  7. Utah 1
  8. District of Columbia 1
  9. Virginia 1
  10. American Samoa 1
  11. New York 1
  12. Guam 1
  13. Idaho 1
  14. Nevada 1

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2).

The counties named in the most earthquake declarations

  1. Hawaii County, HI 4
  2. Los Angeles County, CA 3
  3. Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK 3
  4. Adjuntas Municipio, PR 2
  5. Aguada Municipio, PR 2
  6. Anchorage Municipality, AK 2
  7. Arecibo Municipio, PR 2
  8. Añasco Municipio, PR 2
  9. Barceloneta Municipio, PR 2
  10. Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 2
  11. Ciales Municipio, PR 2
  12. Coamo Municipio, PR 2

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2): distinct declarations that name the county.

The most recent earthquake declarations

The 15 most recent
DeclaredNumberStateTitleAreas named
2026-09-01DR-4936HawaiiEarthquake1
2023-03-08DR-4692CaliforniaEarthquake1
2020-07-09DR-4548UtahEarthquake and Aftershocks2
2020-01-16DR-4473Puerto RicoEarthquakes34
2020-01-07EM-3426Puerto RicoEarthquakes78
2019-07-08EM-3415CaliforniaEarthquakes2
2019-01-31DR-4413AlaskaEarthquake3
2018-11-30EM-3410AlaskaEarthquake3
2014-09-11DR-4193CaliforniaEarthquake2
2011-11-08DR-4044District of ColumbiaEarthquake1
2011-11-04DR-4042VirginiaEarthquake10
2010-05-07DR-1911CaliforniaEarthquake1
2009-09-29DR-1859American SamoaEarthquake,Tsunami, and Flooding5
2006-10-17DR-1664HawaiiEarthquake4
2004-01-13DR-1505CaliforniaEarthquake2

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

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