Shallow M5.1 Earthquake struck on Saturday Afternoon in the North Pacific Ocean near San Isidro (Costa Rica).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on November 22nd, 2025. Last updated December 14th, 2025.

In the early afternoon of Saturday November 22nd, 2025, a shallow and significant Magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit in the North Pacific Ocean 72 kilometer from San Isidro, Costa Rica. Panama is also near its epicenter.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, 43 kilometers (27 mi) off the coast of Costa Rica, 72 kilometer south-southwest of San Isidro in San José. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 12 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Nov 22, 2025 12:41PM (Costa Rica Time) - Nov 22, 2025 18:41 Universal Time.
Location:	72 km SSW of San Isidro, San José, Costa Rica. Coordinates 8°49'51"N 84°3'48"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 50 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.044 .
Depth:	12 km (8 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

2 countries can be found within 300km of the epicenter of this earthquake: Costa Rica and Panama .

The closest significant population center near the earthquake is San Isidro in San José, Costa Rica. San Isidro is located 72 kilometer (45 mi) south-southwest of the epicenter.

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

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 2 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 2 people have reported shaking in 2 places in Costa Rica.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Puerto Cortés, Puntarenas, Costa Rica: 1 person.
• Ipís, San José, Costa Rica: 1 person.

20 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 20 smaller aftershocks. Just 2 days after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-4.4 was detected 8 km (5 mi) southwest of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 28 smaller foreshocks were detected. Roughly 23 hrs before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-4.5 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.

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 November 18th, 2025, when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit 6 km (4 mi) further east-southeast. An even stronger magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck on October 20th, 2022.

In total, 47 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 14/12/25 21:28 (). 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 us6000rpvb
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20251122_0000275
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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