This is a list of earthquakes in 1981. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. Events in remote areas will not be listed but included in statistics and maps. Countries are entered on the lists in order of their status in this particular year. All dates are listed according to UTC time. Maximum intensities are indicated on the Mercalli intensity scale and are sourced from United States Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap data. Another year of below average activity. The number of magnitude 7.0+ events was higher than in 1980 but at 10 was still below normal. The largest event was a magnitude 7.7 which struck Samoa in September. Other areas impacted by large events were Greece, New Zealand, Mex