Reviewed by USGSNicaragua120y ago
M7.2 earthquake 116 km SW of Corinto, Nicaragua
Monday, July 1, 1907, 13:08:48 UTC · 11.663°N, 87.847°W
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck 116 km SW of Corinto, Nicaragua on Monday, July 1, 1907, 13:08:48 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
- 7.2
- Major · 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
858 kilotons of TNT
That is about 57 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,799 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
26 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Caribbean and Cocos 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 200 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 3 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 19 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 2,335 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1854
San Salvador
14 Apr 1854 · 279 km away
1,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1873
Santa Tomas, San Vicente
4 Mar 1873 · 260 km away
800 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1873
Salvador,San Vicente
11 Apr 1873 · 249 km away
300 deaths
- 1902M7.0
El Salvador-Guatemala
26 Feb 1902 · 272 km away
185 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1765
Chiquimula
20 Apr 1765 · 270 km away
50 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1719M7.6
San Salvador
5 Mar 1719 · 256 km away · intensity VIII
Extreme damage ($25M+)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.