Reviewed by USGSNicaragua34y ago
M4.3 earthquake 174 km SW of Masachapa, Nicaragua
Thursday, October 1, 1992, 05:46:36 UTC · 10.519°N, 87.467°W
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 174 km SW of Masachapa, Nicaragua on Thursday, October 1, 1992, 05:46:36 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.3
- 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
43 tons of TNT
That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
43 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 272 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.783 km SSW of Corinto, NicaraguaSeptember 2, 1992 · 137 km N of this epicenter
- 7.5Costa RicaOctober 5, 1950 · 265 km E of this epicenter
- 7.37 km SSE of Puntarenas, Costa RicaMarch 25, 1990 · 299 km E of this epicenter
- 7.392 km SW of San Juan del Sur, NicaraguaDecember 30, 1907 · 108 km E of this epicenter
- 7.3204 km WSW of Sámara, Costa RicaFebruary 27, 1916 · 120 km S of this epicenter
- 7.27 km SW of El Viejo, NicaraguaMarch 28, 1921 · 234 km N of this epicenter
- 7.2116 km SW of Corinto, NicaraguaJuly 1, 1907 · 134 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 33 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 12,296 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1972M6.2
Managua
23 Dec 1972 · 257 km away
10,000 deaths$3.0 billion damage
- 1951M6.5
Jucuapa
6 May 1951 · 278 km away
1,100 deaths$23 million damage
- 1930
Managua
31 Mar 1930 · 224 km away
1,000 deaths$15 million damage
- 1992M7.6
Masachapa; Costa Rica
2 Sep 1992 · 110 km away
170 deaths$30 million damagetsunami
- 1973M6.5
Tilaran, Arenal, Rio Chiquito
14 Apr 1973 · 297 km away
26 deathsUnder $1 million damage
- 1922M6.4
Nicaragua
16 Feb 1922 · 176 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.