M5.6 earthquake 111 km SW of El Palmarcito, Mexico

Friday, November 19, 1993, 02:25:08 UTC · 14.807°N, 93.972°W

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck 111 km SW of El Palmarcito, Mexico on Friday, November 19, 1993, 02:25:08 UTC, at a depth of 25.2 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on September 30, 1993.

Magnitude: 5.6; Moderate · mb
Depth: 25 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

4 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/4 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 8 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

61 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Cocos and North American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

25 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 75 km

USGS lists 4 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.7 on November 19, 1993. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 322 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 20 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1,960 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1982M3.5
Chiapas
28 Mar 1982 · 284 km away
1,879 deaths$3 million damage
1870M7.9
Oaxaca,Zanaguia,San Francisco Ozolotepec
11 May 1870 · 258 km away
24 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1816M7.5
Soloma
22 Jul 1816 · 276 km away · intensity IX
23 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1968M6.1
S Chiapas
25 Sep 1968 · 176 km away
20 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1801M7.0
Oaxaca
5 Oct 1801 · 276 km away
7 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1965M7.8
Mexico City, Oaxaca
23 Aug 1965 · 257 km away
6 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers