M4.3 earthquake 52 km SSW of Ocós, Guatemala

Thursday, December 6, 2012, 06:30:42 UTC · 14.085°N, 92.414°W

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 52 km SSW of Ocós, Guatemala on Thursday, December 6, 2012, 06:30:42 UTC, at a depth of 85.8 km (intermediate).

Magnitude: 4.3; Light · mb
Depth: 86 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

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

65 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: intermediate

86 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 lists 15 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.5 on December 31, 2012. 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 631 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 36 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 5,798 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1917M6.0
Guatemala City
26 Dec 1917 · 204 km away · intensity IX
2,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1902M7.5
Quezaltenango, San Marcos
19 Apr 1902 · 153 km away
2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1773
St. Jago
3 Jun 1773 · 193 km away
600 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
1874M7.1
Antigua,Chimaltenango,Amatitlan
3 Sep 1874 · 190 km away · intensity VIII
300 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1773M7.5
Antigua
29 Jul 1773 · 193 km away · intensity VIII
100 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
2012M7.3
San Marcos, San Cristobal Cochu
7 Nov 2012 · 57 km away
48 deaths$210 million damagetsunami

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

Nearby trackers