Reviewed by USGSNicaragua14y ago
M4.2 earthquake 19 km SSE of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Saturday, September 22, 2012, 09:57:51 UTC · 11.084°N, 85.822°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 19 km SSE of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua on Saturday, September 22, 2012, 09:57:51 UTC, at a depth of 89.5 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 90 km
- Intermediate
- 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
58 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: intermediate
90 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 475 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 · 181 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.611 km ENE of Hojancha, Costa RicaSeptember 5, 2012 · 124 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.64 km WNW of Atenas, Costa RicaDecember 21, 1939 · 196 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.5Costa RicaOctober 5, 1950 · 108 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.37 km SSE of Puntarenas, Costa RicaMarch 25, 1990 · 171 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.392 km SW of San Juan del Sur, NicaraguaDecember 30, 1907 · 86 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.3204 km WSW of Sámara, Costa RicaFebruary 27, 1916 · 246 km SW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 57 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 14,431 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1972M6.2
Managua
23 Dec 1972 · 149 km away
10,000 deaths$3.0 billion damage
- 1931M5.6
Managua
31 Mar 1931 · 236 km away
2,450 deaths$15 million damage
- 1930
Managua
31 Mar 1930 · 120 km away
1,000 deaths$15 million damage
- 1910M6.4
Cartago, San Jose
4 May 1910 · 233 km away
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1992M7.6
Masachapa; Costa Rica
2 Sep 1992 · 200 km away
170 deaths$30 million damagetsunami
- 1952
Costa Rica
30 Dec 1952 · 268 km away
29 deaths
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.