Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 6.1mww
17 km W of Río Grande, Panama
Yes. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake was recorded 17 km W of Río Grande, Panama at 23:20 UTC on 2026-10-12, 11 km deep. 59 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 6.1 (mww)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- 59 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity VII (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 4 hours ago
This was a strong earthquake. Damage is likely near the epicentre and it is felt over a wide area.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 366 km (227 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 21 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 7.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 32× the energy of this one
- Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 16× the energy of this one
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 7.9× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 6.1 about 21 kilotons of TNT
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 this one released 2.8× more
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 4× 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 6.6 on 2026-10-09 — about 5.6 times the energy of this one.
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 7.6896, -81.4896. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| felt reports | 56 | 59 | |
| felt reports | 53 | 56 | |
| felt reports | 52 | 53 | |
| measured intensity | 7.51 | 7.4 | |
| location | 18 km W of Río Grande, Panama | 17 km W of Río Grande, Panama | |
| longitude | -81.5 | -81.49 | |
| latitude | 7.7 | 7.69 | |
| depth | 10 | 11 | |
| felt reports | 49 | 52 | |
| reported intensity | 5 | 5.4 | |
| felt reports | 43 | 49 | |
| felt reports | 41 | 43 |
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.