QuakeScout
Magnitude4.4

Reviewed by USGS25y ago

M4.4 earthquake in El Salvador

Tuesday, March 6, 2001, 22:39:33 UTC · 13.496°N, 89.482°W

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck in El Salvador on Tuesday, March 6, 2001, 22:39:33 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.4
Light · mb
Depth
10 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: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

60 tons of TNT

That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

109 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Caribbean and North American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

10 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 lists 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.0 on March 6, 2001. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M41h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.4
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 3.73 km WNW of El Rosario, El Salvador25y ago · 45 km E of this epicenter
  2. 4.04 km WNW of Zaragoza, El Salvador25y ago · 20 km NE of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 482 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 · 87 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 7.726 km SSW of La Gomera, GuatemalaAugust 6, 1942 · 186 km W of this epicenter
  3. 7.728 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El SalvadorJanuary 13, 2001 · 102 km SE of this epicenter
  4. 7.57 km N of Los Amates, GuatemalaFebruary 4, 1976 · 207 km N of this epicenter
  5. 7.318 km SSW of La Libertad, El SalvadorJune 19, 1982 · 21 km SE of this epicenter
  6. 7.27 km SW of El Viejo, NicaraguaMarch 28, 1921 · 264 km E of this epicenter
  7. 7.2116 km SW of Corinto, NicaraguaJuly 1, 1907 · 270 km SE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 69 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 34,987 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1976M7.5

    Chimaltenango, Guatemala City

    4 Feb 1976 · 207 km away · intensity IX

    23,000 deaths$2.1 billion damagetsunami

  2. 1917M6.0

    Guatemala City

    26 Dec 1917 · 172 km away · intensity IX

    2,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  3. 1902M7.5

    Quezaltenango, San Marcos

    19 Apr 1902 · 173 km away

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

  4. 1986M5.4

    San Salvador

    10 Oct 1986 · 54 km away

    1,100 deaths$1.5 billion damage

  5. 1951M6.5

    Jucuapa

    6 May 1951 · 190 km away

    1,100 deaths$23 million damage

  6. 1854

    San Salvador

    14 Apr 1854 · 46 km away

    1,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages