QuakeScout
Magnitude4.2

Reviewed by USGSEl Salvador44y ago

M4.2 earthquake 64 km SSW of Acajutla, El Salvador

Sunday, July 25, 1982, 01:32:06 UTC · 13.025°N, 89.978°W

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 64 km SSW of Acajutla, El Salvador on Sunday, July 25, 1982, 01:32:06 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.2
Light · mb
Depth
33 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

30 tons of TNT

That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

62 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

33 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 50 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 250 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.712 km NW of Chalatenango, El SalvadorSeptember 7, 1915 · 161 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 7.726 km SSW of La Gomera, GuatemalaAugust 6, 1942 · 158 km NW of this epicenter
  3. 7.57 km N of Los Amates, GuatemalaFebruary 4, 1976 · 273 km N of this epicenter
  4. 7.318 km SSW of La Libertad, El SalvadorJune 19, 1982 · 73 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 7.2116 km SW of Corinto, NicaraguaJuly 1, 1907 · 277 km SE of this epicenter
  6. 7.21 km NNW of Champerico, GuatemalaOctober 23, 1950 · 254 km NW of this epicenter
  7. 7.1113 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El SalvadorFebruary 8, 1926 · 151 km SE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 55 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 32,693 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1976M7.5

    Chimaltenango, Guatemala City

    4 Feb 1976 · 273 km away · intensity IX

    23,000 deaths$2.1 billion damagetsunami

  2. 1917M6.0

    Guatemala City

    26 Dec 1917 · 188 km away · intensity IX

    2,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  3. 1902M7.5

    Quezaltenango, San Marcos

    19 Apr 1902 · 155 km away

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

  4. 1951M6.5

    Jucuapa

    6 May 1951 · 236 km away

    1,100 deaths$23 million damage

  5. 1854

    San Salvador

    14 Apr 1854 · 120 km away

    1,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  6. 1873

    Santa Tomas, San Vicente

    4 Mar 1873 · 114 km away

    800 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

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

Nearby trackers

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