Reviewed by USGSNicaragua37y ago
M4.2 earthquake 20 km WSW of Greytown, Nicaragua
Wednesday, March 28, 1990, 17:24:50 UTC · 10.862°N, 83.906°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 20 km WSW of Greytown, Nicaragua on Wednesday, March 28, 1990, 17:24:50 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
49 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Panama and Caribbean 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 185 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.64 km WNW of Atenas, Costa RicaDecember 21, 1939 · 112 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.5Costa RicaOctober 5, 1950 · 132 km W of this epicenter
- 7.570 km WSW of Golfito, Costa RicaDecember 5, 1941 · 283 km S of this epicenter
- 7.37 km SSE of Puntarenas, Costa RicaMarch 25, 1990 · 144 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.392 km SW of San Juan del Sur, NicaraguaDecember 30, 1907 · 283 km W of this epicenter
- 7.353 km SSE of Quepos, Costa RicaDecember 20, 1904 · 212 km S of this epicenter
- 7.16 km WNW of Siquirres, Costa RicaApril 24, 1916 · 92 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 41 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 11,781 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1972M6.2
Managua
23 Dec 1972 · 294 km away
10,000 deaths$3.0 billion damage
- 1930
Managua
31 Mar 1930 · 285 km away
1,000 deaths$15 million damage
- 1910M6.4
Cartago, San Jose
4 May 1910 · 96 km away
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1952
Costa Rica
30 Dec 1952 · 77 km away
29 deaths
- 1973M6.5
Tilaran, Arenal, Rio Chiquito
14 Apr 1973 · 95 km away
26 deathsUnder $1 million damage
- 1955M5.8
Costa Rica
1 Sep 1955 · 116 km away
10 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.