QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.9mww

43 km SSW of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico

· 15 km deep · released about 11 kilotons of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 5.9 (mww)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
110 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1613 days ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. 110 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 63× the energy of this one
  2. Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 32× the energy of this one
  3. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 16× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.9 about 11 kilotons of TNT
  5. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 this one released 1.4× more
  6. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 2× more

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.4 on 2018-05-09.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 19.0222, -105.1190. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

5 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 4.7 26 km SSW of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico
  2. 4.2 3 km NNW of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico
  3. 5.8 5 km NNW of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico
  4. 5.6 12 km W of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico
  5. 4.7 62 km SW of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.