Moderate yet deep magnitude 5.3 quake hits 20 km southeast of Leon, Nicaragua early afternoon

An intermediate magnitude 5.3 earthquake was reported early afternoon near Leon, Departamento de Leon, Nicaragua.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the quake hit on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2022, at 3:55 pm local time at an intermediate depth of 135 km. The strength of the earthquake may have been tempered by its relative great depth below the surface, which makes it feel weaker in absolute terms. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 5.3 as well. A third agency, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), reported the same quake at magnitude 5.6.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.

Weak shaking might have been felt in La Paz Centro (pop. 23,500) located 17 km from the epicenter, Leon (pop. 144,500) 20 km away, Nagarote (pop. 26,300) 27 km away, Chichigalpa (pop. 33,100) 42 km away, Corinto (pop. 19,200) 46 km away, Ciudad Sandino (pop. 50,000) 52 km away, El Viejo (pop. 53,500) 58 km away, Managua (pop. 973,100) 63 km away, Tipitapa (pop. 50,000) 78 km away, and Masaya (pop. 130,100) 85 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

Earthquake data:
Date & time: Aug 3, 2022 3:55 pm (GMT -6) local time (3 Aug 2022 21:55 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 135.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 12.27°N / 86.81°W (Departamento de Leon, Nicaragua)
Primary data source: GFZ