Reviewed by USGSColombia103y ago
M6.1 earthquake 167 km WNW of Mosquera, Colombia
Saturday, October 18, 1924, 23:05:31 UTC · 2.959°N, 79.885°W
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 167 km WNW of Mosquera, Colombia on Saturday, October 18, 1924, 23:05:31 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.3 on January 30, 1920.
- Magnitude
- 6.1
- 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
19 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 40 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
73 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and North Andes 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 8 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.81906 Ecuador-Colombia EarthquakeJanuary 31, 1906 · 230 km S of this epicenter
- 6.813 km N of Muisne, EcuadorJune 30, 1916 · 248 km S of this epicenter
- 6.667 km NNW of Esmeraldas, EcuadorJune 1, 1907 · 163 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5148 km W of Pizarro, ColombiaApril 20, 1914 · 237 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.5208 km S of Cambutal, PanamaDecember 2, 1904 · 279 km N of this epicenter
- 6.537 km SSW of La Tola, ColombiaJune 5, 1907 · 198 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.347 km NNE of Timbiquí, ColombiaJanuary 30, 1920 · 269 km E of this epicenter
- 5.8138 km W of Pizarro, ColombiaJune 22, 1924 · 275 km NE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 2 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1,000 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1906M8.8
Off Coast
31 Jan 1906 · 230 km away · intensity IX
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1906
Colombia-Ecuador
7 Feb 1906 · 251 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.