MADRID—A series of small earthquakes in Spain’s Canary Islands has put authorities on alert for a possible volcanic eruption, with one official saying Thursday there is “intense seismic activity” in the area off northwest Africa. Authorities have detected more than 4,200 temblors in what scientists are calling an “earthquake swarm” around La Palma island since…

An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 struck near the coast of northern Chile on Wednesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The quake was at a depth of 21 kilometers (13.05 miles), GFZ added.

Earthquakes have been wreaking havoc in Haiti since at least the 18th century, when the city of Port-au-Prince was destroyed twice in 19 years. Saturday’s powerful quake killed hundreds and injured thousands more. Eleven years earlier a temblor killed tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands. Haiti sits near the intersection of…

TAIPEI, Taiwan—A series of more than 20 earthquakes struck the east coast of Taiwan on Wednesday morning, causing some damage. The Central Weather Bureau reported 22 quakes over two hours starting at 6:52 a.m. The first was the largest with a magnitude of 5.2 and struck at a relatively shallow depth of 5.9 kilometers (3.7…