Magnitude6.7

Reviewed by USGSGuatemala115y ago

M6.7 earthquake 11 km S of Los Amates, Guatemala

Wednesday, June 12, 1912, 12:43:26 UTC · 15.155°N, 89.104°W

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck 11 km S of Los Amates, Guatemala on Wednesday, June 12, 1912, 12:43:26 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude
6.7
Strong · mw
Depth
15 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
—
No ShakeMap
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

169 kilotons of TNT

That is about 11 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 355 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

23 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Caribbean and North American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 4 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 27 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 5,358 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1902M7.5

    Quezaltenango, San Marcos

    19 Apr 1902 · 241 km away

    2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  2. 1854

    San Salvador

    14 Apr 1854 · 151 km away

    1,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  3. 1873

    Santa Tomas, San Vicente

    4 Mar 1873 · 168 km away

    800 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  4. 1773

    St. Jago

    3 Jun 1773 · 182 km away

    600 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami

  5. 1874M7.1

    Antigua,Chimaltenango,Amatitlan

    3 Sep 1874 · 186 km away · intensity VIII

    300 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  6. 1873

    Salvador,San Vicente

    11 Apr 1873 · 173 km away

    300 deaths

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages