Significant M5.0 Earthquake struck on Saturday Evening in the North Pacific Ocean near San Salvador (El Salvador).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 22nd, 2024. Last updated October 14th, 2024.

In the North Pacific Ocean 57 kilometer from San Salvador, El Salvador, a significant M5.0 earthquake occurred in the evening of Saturday September 21st, 2024. Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are also near its epicenter.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 31 kilometers (20 mi) off the coast of El Salvador, 57 kilometer south-southwest of San Salvador. The center of this earthquake had an intermediate depth of 81 km.

Date and Time:	Sep 21, 2024 08:25PM (El Salvador Time) - Sep 22, 2024 02:25 Universal Time.
Location:	57 km SSW of San Salvador, El Salvador. Coordinates 13°11'44"N 89°19'59"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.0 Detected by 25 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.062 .
Depth:	81 km (50 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

This earthquake struck within proximity of multiple countries. El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras and Nicaragua are all within 300km distance of its epicenter.

The closest significant population center near the earthquake is La Libertad in La Libertad, El Salvador. La Libertad is located 33 kilometer (21 mi) south of the epicenter.

Major cities near this earthquake: San Salvador is located 57 km to the north-northeast. Soyapango is located 61 km to the north-northeast. Guatemala City is located 205 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

After this earthquake struck, 3 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 22 km (14 mi) west-northwest of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 17 hrs later. It measured a magnitude of 4.4

This main shock was prefaced by 5 smaller foreshocks. Roughly 1 day before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-4.4 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 September 15th, 2024, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 65 km (40 mi) further west-southwest. An even stronger magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck on October 14th, 2014.

In total, 158 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5 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 23 days.

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 14/10/24 05:08 (). This article contains currently available information about the earthquake and is automatically composed. We continue to update this article up to a few days after the earthquake occurred.

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

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