Loading Recent Earthquakes Near Kotor…
Earthquakes recorded near the Bay of Kotor lately, from the EMSC regional catalogue — with the fault story behind the 1979 quake and tsunami, and the official channels that matter when the ground shakes.
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What has actually been recorded in and around the Bay of Kotor lately, from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre's regional catalogue. Most of it is too small to feel. This is a record of what already happened — not a warning, and not a forecast.
Strongest in this window
M3.9
193 km southeast of Kotor and the Bay of Kotor · Not reported ·
19 earthquakes of magnitude M2.5 or larger within 250 km of town in the last 30 days.
| Magnitude | Where | Depth | Shaking | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M3.1 | 242 km northwest | 11 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.9 | 163 km northeast | 2 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.7 | 184 km southeast | 14 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.5 | 185 km east | 3 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.3 | 161 km north | 0 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.1 | 153 km north | 9 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.6 | 159 km north | 6 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.5 | 69 km north | 12 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.6 | 58 km northwest | 6 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.6 | 146 km southeast | 15 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.5 | 66 km southeast | 15 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.5 | 235 km east | 15 km deep | Not reported |
This page is not an earthquake warning
If the shaking is long or strong, get to high ground
The Montenegrin coast sits over the boundary where the Adriatic microplate is pushed north-east under the Dinarides, and the Bay of Kotor lies above one of the resulting thrust faults — a seismogenic zone running roughly parallel to the shore rather than under any one town. That geometry is why a strong quake here tends to be felt along the whole coast at once, not centred on one place.
On 15 April 1979 a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck offshore near Bar and Ulcinj, about 40 km south of Kotor. It killed just over 100 people in Montenegro and badly damaged the Bay's historic fabric — Kotor's Old Town was rebuilt stone by stone and stayed on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger until 2003. Much of what looks centuries-old in the Old Town today was, in fact, rebuilt after 1979.
The 1979 quake also generated a tsunami: tide gauges along the coast recorded it, and newspaper reports at the time described waves as high as 3 metres in places, with one drowning. That is why a strong or long quake near the coast is treated here as a tsunami cue as well as a shaking one.
Checked 24 August at 3:47. Earthquake data from EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC-CSEM), open data). Magnitude, depth and felt intensity are revised as analysis improves, and very fresh quakes can take minutes to appear.
Strongest lately: M3.9
193 km SE of town