Shallow M5.1 Earthquake struck on Thursday Afternoon in the South China Sea near Vigan (The Philippines).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on December 19th, 2024. Last updated December 21st, 2024.

In the South China Sea 95 kilometer from Vigan, The Philippines, a shallow and significant M5.1 earthquake occurred in the afternoon of Thursday December 19th, 2024.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the South China Sea, 95 kilometers (59 mi) off the coast of The Philippines, 95 kilometer west of Vigan in Ilocos. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Dec 19, 2024 02:42PM (Manila Time) - Dec 19, 2024 06:42 Universal Time.
Location:	95 km west of Vigan, Ilocos, The Philippines. Coordinates 17°38'11"N 119°29'22"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 59 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.074 .
Depth:	10 km (6 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

This earthquake may have been felt in The Philippines . Located 95 kilometer (59 mi) west of the epicenter of this earthquake, Vigan (Ilocos, The Philippines) is the nearest significant population center.

Major cities near this earthquake: Baguio is located 179 km to the south-east. Cabanatuan City is located 286 km to the south-east. Santol is located 298 km to the south-southeast.

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

Overview of nearby places

20 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 20 smaller aftershocks occurred. A 5 magnitude earthquake hit 6 hrs later 6 km (4 mi) northwest of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 15 smaller foreshocks were detected. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 6 hrs earlier. It measured a magnitude of 4.7

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 December 3rd, 2024, when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit 168 km (105 mi) further north-east. An even stronger magnitude 7 earthquake struck on July 27th, 2022.

In total, 40 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 3 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 21/12/24 14:58 (). 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 us7000nzza
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20241219_0000083
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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