On Saturday Evening a Shallow M5.2 Earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean near Santa Tecla (El Salvador).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 15th, 2024. Last updated October 15th, 2024.

A shallow and significant M5.2 earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean 97 kilometer from Santa Tecla, El Salvador in the evening of Saturday September 14th, 2024. Guatemala and Honduras are also near its epicenter.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 54 kilometers (33 mi) off the coast of El Salvador, 97 kilometer southwest of Santa Tecla in La Libertad. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 30 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Sep 14, 2024 10:58PM (El Salvador Time) - Sep 15, 2024 04:58 Universal Time.
Location:	97 km SW of Santa Tecla, La Libertad, El Salvador. Coordinates 13°3'45"N 89°54'51"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 53 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.043 .
Depth:	30 km (19 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

El Salvador , Guatemala and Honduras are all located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Located 60 kilometer (37 mi) south of the epicenter of this earthquake, Acajutla (Sonsonate, El Salvador) is the nearest significant population center.

Major cities near this earthquake: Guatemala City is located 187 km to the north-northwest. San Salvador is located 105 km to the north-east. Soyapango is located 110 km to the north-east.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 24 people in 2 countries

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 24 people have reported shaking in 13 places in 2 countries (El Salvador, Guatemala).We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala: 4 people.
• Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala, Guatemala: 4 people.
• Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala: 3 people.
• Mejicanos, San Salvador, El Salvador: 2 people.
• Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador: 2 people.
• San José Pinula, Guatemala, Guatemala: 2 people.
• Concepción de Ataco, Ahuachapán, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Nueva San Salvador, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Nuevo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Quezaltepeque, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.

13 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 13 smaller aftershocks. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit 18 mins later 6 km (3 mi) north of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 9 smaller foreshocks were detected. A 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit 1 day 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 August 28th, 2024, when a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit 46 km (28 mi) further east. An even stronger magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck on October 14th, 2014.

In total, 77 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.2 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 2 months.

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 15/10/24 03:28 (). 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 us7000ndx1
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240915_0000047
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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