QuakeScout
Magnitude4.2

Reviewed by USGSGuatemala13y ago

M4.2 earthquake 84 km SSE of Iztapa, Guatemala

Thursday, May 30, 2013, 14:45:22 UTC · 13.184°N, 90.547°W

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 84 km SSE of Iztapa, Guatemala on Thursday, May 30, 2013, 14:45:22 UTC, at a depth of 88.1 km (intermediate).

Magnitude
4.2
Light · mb
Depth
88 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

31 km

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

Depth: intermediate

88 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 658 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 · 197 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 7.726 km SSW of La Gomera, GuatemalaAugust 6, 1942 · 101 km NW of this epicenter
  3. 7.728 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El SalvadorJanuary 13, 2001 · 205 km E of this epicenter
  4. 7.57 km N of Los Amates, GuatemalaFebruary 4, 1976 · 284 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 7.433 km S of Champerico, GuatemalaNovember 7, 2012 · 171 km NW of this epicenter
  6. 7.34 km SSW of Puerto Madero, MexicoDecember 14, 1935 · 264 km NW of this epicenter
  7. 7.334 km SW of Puerto Madero, MexicoApril 29, 1970 · 265 km NW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 71 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 35,057 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1976M7.5

    Chimaltenango, Guatemala City

    4 Feb 1976 · 284 km away · intensity IX

    23,000 deaths$2.1 billion damagetsunami

  2. 1917M6.0

    Guatemala City

    26 Dec 1917 · 158 km away · intensity IX

    2,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  3. 1902M7.5

    Quezaltenango, San Marcos

    19 Apr 1902 · 103 km away

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

  4. 1986M5.4

    San Salvador

    10 Oct 1986 · 170 km away

    1,100 deaths$1.5 billion damage

  5. 1951M6.5

    Jucuapa

    6 May 1951 · 298 km away

    1,100 deaths$23 million damage

  6. 1854

    San Salvador

    14 Apr 1854 · 161 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