On Monday Afternoon a Shallow M4.8 Earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean near San Isidro (Costa Rica).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 24th, 2023. Last updated June 23rd, 2023.

A shallow M4.8 earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean 67 kilometer from San Isidro, Costa Rica in the afternoon of Monday April 24th, 2023. Another country near the epicenter is Panama.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 28 kilometers (17 mi) off the coast of Costa Rica, 67 kilometer south-southwest of San Isidro in San José. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 16 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 24, 2023 02:14PM (Costa Rica Time) - Apr 24, 2023 20:14 Universal Time.
Location:	67 km SSW of San Isidro, San José, Costa Rica. Coordinates 8°48'36"N 83°55'12"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 4.8
Depth:	16 km (10 mi) A very shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

Costa Rica and Panama are both located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

The closest significant population center near the earthquake is San Isidro in San José, Costa Rica. San Isidro is located 67 kilometer (42 mi) south-southwest of the epicenter.

The table below provides an overview of all places in proximity of today's earthquake.

Overview of nearby places

Aftershocks detected

Before this earthquake struck, 4 smaller foreshocks occurred. Roughly 5 days before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-3.7 was detected nearby this earthquake.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since April 4th, 2023, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit 223 km (138 mi) further south-east. An even stronger magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck on October 20th, 2022.

In total, 116 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.8 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every month.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 23/06/23 13:57 (). As more information on this earthquake becomes available this article will be updated. This article is automatically composed based on data originating from multiple sources.

1. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20230424_0000259
2. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
3. Google Maps: Static API
4. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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