Significant M5.1 Earthquake struck on Thursday Night in the North Pacific Ocean near San Salvador (El Salvador).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 4th, 2024. Last updated May 2nd, 2024.

A significant MAG-5.1 earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean 94 kilometer from San Salvador, El Salvador in the night of Thursday April 4th, 2024. Other nearby countries are Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 40 kilometers (25 mi) off the coast of El Salvador, 94 kilometer south-southeast of San Salvador. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 55 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 4, 2024 01:38AM (El Salvador Time) - Apr 4, 2024 07:38 Universal Time.
Location:	94 km SSE of San Salvador, El Salvador. Coordinates 12°53'44"N 88°53'12"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 32 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.055 .
Depth:	55 km (34 mi) A quite 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

4 countries can be found within 300km of the epicenter of this earthquake: El Salvador , Honduras , Guatemala and Nicaragua .

Located 56 kilometer (35 mi) southwest of the epicenter of this earthquake, Puerto El Triunfo (Usulután, El Salvador) is the nearest significant population center.

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. San Salvador is located 94 km to the north-northwest. Tegucigalpa is located 224 km to the north-east. Guatemala City is located 262 km to the northwest.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 3 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 3 people have reported shaking in 3 places, all within El Salvador.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.
• San Luis la Herradura, La Paz, El Salvador: 1 person.
• San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador: 1 person.

4 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 4 smaller aftershocks occurred. A 3.2 magnitude earthquake hit 2 days later 49 km (30 mi) south-southeast of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 4 smaller foreshocks were detected. A 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit 8 hrs earlier nearby.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

The risk of aftershocks decreases rapidly over time. Usually, aftershocks are at least one order of magnitude lower than a main shock.

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 March 17th, 2024, when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit 146 km (91 mi) further east-southeast. An even stronger magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck on October 14th, 2014.

In total, 102 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.1 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 02/05/24 11:28 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000m9u3
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240404_0000099
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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