List of earthquakes in 1940
This is a list of earthquakes in 1940. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest. All dates are listed according to UTC time. Overall, with 13 magnitude 7.0+ events worldwide, this was a fairly busy year. The death toll was substantially lower than 1939. The most significant event in terms of lives lost was in Romania in November with 1,000 deaths. Other quakes in China and Peru resulted in significant fatalities.
Overall
By death toll
| Rank | Death toll | Magnitude | Location | MMI | Depth | Date |
| 1 | , Vrancea County | |||||
| 2 | 181 | , Yunnan Province | ||||
| 3 | 179 | , Lima Region | ||||
| 4 | 51 | , Inner Mongolia | ||||
| 5 | 16 | , Imereti | ||||
| 6 | 10 | , eastern Sea of Japan |
- Note: At least 10 casualties
By magnitude
| Rank | Magnitude | Death toll | Location | MMI | Depth | Date |
| 1 | 179 | , Lima Region | ||||
| 2 | 0 | , Vrancea County | ||||
| 3 | 0 | , Northern Mariana Islands | ||||
| = 4 | 0 | , Northern Mariana Islands | ||||
| = 4 | 10 | , eastern Sea of Japan | ||||
| 5 | 0 | , Rat Islands, Alaska | ||||
| 6 | 0 | , Heilongjiang Province | ||||
| 7 | 0 | , southeast of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia | ||||
| 8 | 0 | , La Paz Department | ||||
| = 9 | 0 | |||||
| = 9 | 0 | , southern Sea of Japan | ||||
| = 9 | 0 | , southeast of Mindanao | ||||
| = 9 | 0 | , Chiloe Island, Los Lagos Region |
- Note: At least 7.0 magnitude
Notable events