How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

Q: How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. Based on data from the past 54 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 614 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi). It has had at least 2 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 60 to 65 years.

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Strong mag. 5.0 Earthquake - 1 km NE of Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, Apr 7, 2024, at 11:49 am (El Salvador time) -

A strong magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit 26 km (16 mi) away from San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador, in the morning of Sunday, Apr 7, 2024 at 11.49 am local time (America/El Salvador GMT -6). The quake had a moderate depth of 193 km (120 mi) and was reported felt by some people near the epicenter.
No significant damage or impact is expected from this quake and no particular alert was issued.

Strong mag. 5.0 Earthquake - 1 km NE of Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, Apr 7, 2024, at 11:49 am (El Salvador time)

Strong magnitude 5.0 earthquake at 193 km depth

7 Apr 17:56 UTC: First to report: INETER after 7 minutes.
7 Apr 18:07: Now using data updates from USGS
21 Apr 08:20: Epicenter location corrected by 2.2 km (1.3 mi) towards NE.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Apr 7, 2024 17:49:32 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Sunday, Apr 7, 2024, at 11:49 am (America/El Salvador GMT -6)
Status	Confirmed (manually revised)
Magnitude	5.0
Depth	193 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	13.8143°N / 88.9836°W Cuscatlan, El Salvador Also near: Honduras 38 km (24 mi) away \| Guatemala 74 km (46 mi) away \| Nicaragua 170 km (106 mi) away
Seismic antipode	13.8143°S / 91.0164°E
Shaking intensity	III Weak shaking near epicenter
Felt	1 report
Primary data source	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcano	Guazapa (18 km / 11 mi)
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 31.7°C (89 F), humidity: 34%, wind: 2 m/s (3 kts) from NE
Estimated seismic energy released	2 x 10¹² joules (554 megawatt hours, equivalent to 477 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Impact of this earthquake: Level GREEN

Based on seismic and statistical models, USGS estimates that the risk of fatalities and damage from this earthquake is low. The main factors that contribute to this evaluation are:

The maximum expected ground shaking from this quake was unlikely to reach dangerous levels over populated areas; it should not have surpassed intensity III (Weak) on the MMI scale significantly.

The quake appears to have occurred far from densely populated areas (far as in relation to its magnitude).

The quake occurred relatively deep under the surface (193 km or 120 mi depth). This significantly weakened the shaking on the ground of this quake if compared to a magnitude 5.0 event at shallower depth.

Ground shaking from this quake

Map of estimated ground shaking (source:USGS)

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in El Salvador

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is San Salvador, the capital of

El Salvador with 530,000 inhabitants, in 26 km (16 mi) distance southwest of the epicenter. People likely experienced weak shaking there. Many smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking.
The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

Distance	Place	Max. shaking intensity(*)	Region	Country
2 km (1 mi) N of epicenter	Tenancingo (pop: 1,010)	III: Weak	Cuscatlan	El Salvador
8 km (5 mi) SE of epicenter	San Martin (pop: 39,400)	III: Weak	Cuscatlan	El Salvador
12 km (8 mi) SE of epicenter	Cojutepeque (pop: 48,400)	III: Weak	Cuscatlan	El Salvador
15 km (9 mi) N of epicenter	Suchitoto (pop: 5,740)	III: Weak	Cuscatlan	El Salvador
18 km (11 mi) SW of epicenter	Ilopango (pop: 38,900)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
19 km (12 mi) SE of epicenter	San Sebastian (pop: 7,330)	III: Weak	San Vicente	El Salvador
20 km (13 mi) SW of epicenter	Soyapango (pop: 329,700)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
21 km (13 mi) W of epicenter	Apopa (pop: 112,200)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
22 km (13 mi) W of epicenter	Guazapa (pop: 11,000)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
22 km (14 mi) SW of epicenter	Delgado (pop: 71,600)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
23 km (15 mi) SW of epicenter	Cuscatancingo (pop: 44,400)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
24 km (15 mi) SW of epicenter	Mexicanos (pop: 160,300)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
25 km (16 mi) N of epicenter	Chalatenango (pop: 19,400)	III: Weak	Chalatenango	El Salvador
25 km (16 mi) SW of epicenter	Santo Tomas (pop: 14,600)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
26 km (16 mi) SW of epicenter	San Salvador (pop: 526,000)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
27 km (17 mi) NW of epicenter	Aguilares (pop: 21,400)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
27 km (17 mi) SW of epicenter	San Marcos (pop: 54,600)	III: Weak	San Salvador	El Salvador
28 km (18 mi) SE of epicenter	San Vicente (pop: 41,500)	III: Weak	San Vicente	El Salvador
31 km (19 mi) W of epicenter	Quezaltepeque (pop: 28,900)	III: Weak	La Libertad	El Salvador
33 km (21 mi) S of epicenter	Santiago Nonualco (pop: 9,490)	III: Weak	La Paz	El Salvador
34 km (21 mi) SW of epicenter	Antiguo Cuscatlan (pop: 33,800)	III: Weak	La Libertad	El Salvador
41 km (26 mi) W of epicenter	San Juan Opico (pop: 7,130)	III: Weak	La Libertad	El Salvador
41 km (26 mi) SW of epicenter	Zaragoza (pop: 11,700)	III: Weak	La Libertad	El Salvador
49 km (31 mi) NW of epicenter	Nueva Concepcion (pop: 9,990)	III: Weak	Chalatenango	El Salvador
52 km (32 mi) SW of epicenter	La Libertad (pop: 16,900)	III: Weak	La Libertad	El Salvador
56 km (35 mi) W of epicenter	Armenia (pop: 15,000)	III: Weak	Sonsonate	El Salvador
67 km (42 mi) SE of epicenter	Santiago de Maria (pop: 15,000)	III: Weak	Usulutan	El Salvador
75 km (47 mi) W of epicenter	Izalco (pop: 19,200)	III: Weak	Sonsonate	El Salvador
75 km (47 mi) SE of epicenter	Puerto El Triunfo (pop: 19,100)	III: Weak	Usulutan	El Salvador
77 km (48 mi) NW of epicenter	Metapan (pop: 19,100)	III: Weak	Santa Ana	El Salvador
78 km (48 mi) W of epicenter	Chalchuapa (pop: 32,300)	III: Weak	Santa Ana	El Salvador
79 km (49 mi) W of epicenter	Sonzacate (pop: 15,400)	III: Weak	Sonsonate	El Salvador
81 km (50 mi) W of epicenter	Sonsonate (pop: 59,500)	III: Weak	Sonsonate	El Salvador
84 km (52 mi) SE of epicenter	San Rafael Oriente (pop: 19,100)	III: Weak	San Miguel	El Salvador
93 km (57 mi) NW of epicenter	Esquipulas (pop: 20,700)	II: Very weak	Chiquimula	Guatemala
94 km (58 mi) W of epicenter	Ahuachapan (pop: 34,100)	II: Very weak	Ahuachapan	El Salvador
94 km (58 mi) E of epicenter	San Miguel (pop: 161,900)	II: Very weak	San Miguel	El Salvador
94 km (59 mi) W of epicenter	Acajutla (pop: 22,800)	II: Very weak	Sonsonate	El Salvador
96 km (60 mi) E of epicenter	San Francisco (pop: 16,200)	II: Very weak	Morazan	El Salvador
97 km (61 mi) NW of epicenter	Asuncion (pop: 15,600)	II: Very weak	Asuncion Mita, Jutiapa	Guatemala

Notes:
(*) Shaking intensity according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) and estimated using seismic models.

User-reports for this quake (1)

We received 1 report for this quake from

El Salvador.
It came from near Soyapango, a city with more than 330,000 inhabitants in San Salvador in 20 km (13 mi) distance southwest of the epicenter,

El Salvador.

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

Contribute:
Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it.
Flag as inappropriate.
Mark as helpful or interesting.
Send your own user report!

Translate

San Martín (11 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : Fue fuertecito, de un solo le hizo hacia los lados y arriba

List of cities/places with most reports

Place	Distance from epicenter	Average reported Shaking Intensity	Nr. of reports
Soyapango, San Salvador, El Salvador (Pop.: 329,708)	20 km (13 mi) SW of epicenter	V: Moderate shaking	1

Note: Only reports with latitude/longitude coordinate positions given (1 in total) could be used for statistics.

What is Intensity and the Mercalli Intensity Scale?

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.
Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.
Read more about the MMI scale!

Compare Quake Data

Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Mag	Depth	Time GMT 2024-04-7	Epicenter	Agency
5.0	193 km 120 mi	17:49:32	1 km NE of Tecoluca, El Salvador	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
4.7	212 km 132 mi	17:49:35	El Salvador 33 km (20 mi) epicenter difference with USGS	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
5.0	199 km 123 mi	17:49:33	el Salvador 2.5 km (1.5 mi) epicenter difference with USGS	EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
4.2	178 km 111 mi	17:49:34	1 km NE of Tecoluca, El Salvador 16 km (10.2 mi) epicenter difference with USGS	INETER
5.0	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	17:49:32	El Salvador 2.2 km (1.3 mi) epicenter difference with USGS	IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology)

Notes:
(*) A depth given as 10 km often means that the the depth of the quake could not determined with sufficient accuracy.

Seismograms

Seismic station: Las Juntas de Abangares, Costa Rica (JTS/II network) | Distance from quake: 588 km / 365 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Las Juntas de Abangares, Costa Rica: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-5.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Aftershocks for this quake

No aftershocks have been recorded so far. When aftershocks are detected, we will update this section.

What are aftershocks?

Larger earthquakes (above magnitude 5 or so) such as this one are usually followed by smaller ones known as aftershocks that occur in the same area during the days, weeks, months or even years after the main shock.

[More info]

What about this quake?

Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake likely ruptured beneath a surface of approx. 10 km² (=4 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 5 km (3 mi).

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quake)

Date and Time GMT	Mag Depth	Distance	Region	Details
Apr 7, 2024 11:49 am (El Salvador) 6 weeks ago	5.0 193 km	0 km - This quake	Cuscatlan, 26 km NE of San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador Main Shock (this quake)	More

Map of aftershocks

Earthquake statistics

Average number of earthquakes

Based on data from the past 54 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 614 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

Mag. 7 or higher: 0.02 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 62.5 years)
Mag. 6 or higher: 0.08 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 12.5 years)
Mag. 5 or higher: 1.57 quakes per year
Mag. 4 or higher: 37.7 quakes per year (or 3.1 quakes per month)
Mag. 3 or higher: 182 quakes per year (or 15.1 quakes per month)
Mag. 2 or higher: 519 quakes per year (or 43 quakes per month)
Mag. 1 or higher: 613 quakes per year (or 51 quakes per month)

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 2 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 60 to 65 years.

Number of quakes per year

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

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