QuakeScout
Magnitude4.7

Reviewed by USGSEl Salvador25y ago

M4.7 earthquake 53 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador

Monday, October 15, 2001, 00:22:25 UTC · 12.842°N, 88.750°W

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck 53 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador on Monday, October 15, 2001, 00:22:25 UTC, at a depth of 55.1 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.9 on October 8, 2001.

Magnitude
4.7
Light · mb
Depth
55 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

169 tons of TNT

That is about 1/89 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 3 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

93 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

55 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 466 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 · 145 km N of this epicenter
  2. 7.783 km SSW of Corinto, NicaraguaSeptember 2, 1992 · 196 km SE of this epicenter
  3. 7.726 km SSW of La Gomera, GuatemalaAugust 6, 1942 · 285 km NW of this epicenter
  4. 7.728 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El SalvadorJanuary 13, 2001 · 25 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 7.57 km N of Los Amates, GuatemalaFebruary 4, 1976 · 279 km N of this epicenter
  6. 7.318 km SSW of La Libertad, El SalvadorJune 19, 1982 · 88 km NW of this epicenter
  7. 7.27 km SW of El Viejo, NicaraguaMarch 28, 1921 · 168 km E of this epicenter
  8. 7.2116 km SW of Corinto, NicaraguaJuly 1, 1907 · 164 km SE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 67 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 46,107 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1976M7.5

    Chimaltenango, Guatemala City

    4 Feb 1976 · 279 km away · intensity IX

    23,000 deaths$2.1 billion damagetsunami

  2. 1972M6.2

    Managua

    23 Dec 1972 · 292 km away

    10,000 deaths$3.0 billion damage

  3. 1917M6.0

    Guatemala City

    26 Dec 1917 · 280 km away · intensity IX

    2,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  4. 1902M7.5

    Quezaltenango, San Marcos

    19 Apr 1902 · 275 km away

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

  5. 1986M5.4

    San Salvador

    10 Oct 1986 · 117 km away

    1,100 deaths$1.5 billion damage

  6. 1951M6.5

    Jucuapa

    6 May 1951 · 104 km away

    1,100 deaths$23 million damage

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

Nearby trackers

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