On Tuesday Afternoon a Significant M5.2 Earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean near San José (Costa Rica).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on July 7th, 2026. Last updated July 20th, 2026.

Around noon of Tuesday July 7th, 2026, a significant Magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit in the North Pacific Ocean 73 kilometer from San José, Costa Rica. Nicaragua and Panama are also near its epicenter.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the North Pacific Ocean, right off the coast of Costa Rica (6 mi offshore), 73 kilometer west of San José. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 35 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Jul 7, 2026 12:11PM (Costa Rica Time) - Jul 7, 2026 18:11 Universal Time.
Location:	73 km west of San José, Costa Rica. Coordinates 9°45'18"N 84°43'45"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 45 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.046 .
Depth:	35 km (22 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

Costa Rica , Nicaragua and Panama are all located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Chacarita in Puntarenas, Costa Rica is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 26 kilometer (16 mi) south of Chacarita.

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

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 31 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 31 people have reported shaking in 22 places, all within 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:

• Jacó, Puntarenas, Costa Rica: 5 people.
• Orotina, Alajuela, Costa Rica: 2 people.
• Quepos, Puntarenas, Costa Rica: 2 people.
• San José, San José, Costa Rica: 2 people.
• Sabanilla, Alajuela, Costa Rica: 2 people.
• San Rafael, San José, Costa Rica: 2 people.
• Ipís, San José, Costa Rica: 1 person.
• Salitrillos, San José, Costa Rica: 1 person.
• Parrita, Puntarenas, Costa Rica: 1 person.
• San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica: 1 person.

9 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 9 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 30 km (19 mi) southwest of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 2 hrs later. It measured a magnitude of 3.5

Before this earthquake struck, 4 smaller foreshocks occurred. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 3 days earlier. It measured a magnitude of 3.6

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 April 15th, 2026, when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit 179 km (111 mi) further west. An even stronger magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck on November 13th, 2017.

In total, 40 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 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 20/07/26 00:28 (). As more information on this earthquake becomes available this article will be updated. This article is automatically composed based on data originating from multiple sources.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000tarc
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260707_0000243
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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