Significant M5.1 Earthquake hit in the North Pacific Ocean near San Salvador (El Salvador) on Saturday Evening.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 22nd, 2024. Last updated September 26th, 2024.

In the evening of Saturday September 21st, 2024, a significant M5.1 earthquake hit in the North Pacific Ocean 60 kilometer from San Salvador, El Salvador. Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are also near its epicenter.

Felt the earthquake? Share this article:

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 34 kilometers (21 mi) off the coast of El Salvador, 60 kilometer south-southwest of San Salvador. The center of this earthquake had an intermediate depth of 75 km.

Date and Time:	Sep 21, 2024 08:25PM (El Salvador Time) - Sep 22, 2024 02:25 Universal Time.
Location:	60 km SSW of San Salvador, El Salvador. Coordinates 13°11'4"N 89°23'42"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 29 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.058 .
Depth:	75 km (47 mi) An intermediate 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 , Honduras and Nicaragua are all located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Located 35 kilometer (22 mi) south-southwest of the epicenter of this earthquake, La Libertad (La Libertad, El Salvador) is the nearest significant population center.

Major cities near this earthquake: San Salvador is located 60 km to the north-northeast. Soyapango is located 65 km to the north-northeast. Guatemala City is located 202 km to the northwest.

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

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 11 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 11 people have reported shaking in 6 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: 4 people.
• San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador: 3 people.
• Nuevo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Zaragoza, La Libertad, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Santo Tomás, San Salvador, El Salvador: 1 person.
• Concepción Batres, Usulután, El Salvador: 1 person.

3 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 3 smaller aftershocks. Just 17 hrs after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-4.5 was detected 20 km (13 mi) west of this earthquake.

This main shock was prefaced by 4 smaller foreshocks. A 4.4 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.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major 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 September 15th, 2024, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 42 km (26 mi) further west-northwest. An even stronger magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck on October 14th, 2014.

In total, 103 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 26/09/24 02:08 (). 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 us6000ntl2
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240922_0000019
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

Share this article: