Major magnitude 6.7 earthquake - Atacames, 26 km southwest of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, on Friday, April 9, 1976 at 07:08 GMT
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Major magnitude 6.7 earthquake at 9 km depth
1 Jan 00:00 UTC: First to report: USGS after 30 seconds.
Magnitude: 6.7
Depth: 9.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 0.782°N / 79.804°W

Antipode: 0.782°S / 100.196°E
Nearest volcano: Pilavo (163 km / 101 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
26 km (16 mi) SW of Esmeraldas (pop: 165,200) --> See nearby quakes!
31 km (19 mi) NE of Muisne (Esmeraldas) (pop: 13,400) --> See nearby quakes!
62 km (39 mi) NW of Rosa Zarate (Esmeraldas) (pop: 42,100) --> See nearby quakes!
84 km (52 mi) NNE of Pedernales (Manabí) (pop: 5,980) --> See nearby quakes!
121 km (75 mi) WSW of San Lorenzo de Esmeraldas (San Lorenzo) (pop: 20,200) --> See nearby quakes!
135 km (84 mi) NNW of Santo Domingo de los Colorados (Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas) (pop: 200,400) --> See nearby quakes!
168 km (104 mi) N of Chone (Manabí) (pop: 44,800) --> See nearby quakes!
181 km (113 mi) NW of Quito (Pichincha) (pop: 1,399,800) --> See nearby quakes!
193 km (120 mi) WNW of Ibarra (Imbabura) (pop: 133,000) --> See nearby quakes!
331 km (206 mi) N of Guayaquil (Guayas) (pop: 1,952,000) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 7.1 x 1014 joules (197 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1.7 x 105 tons of TNT or 10.6 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: 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 | Location | Source |
6.7 | 9 km | near the coast of Ecuador | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
[More info]
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes)
Date and time![]() | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
May 24, 1976 15:46 46 years ago | 4.5 39 km | 128 km SW of Esmeraldas, Ecuador | More |
Apr 11, 1976 19:13 46 years ago | 5.0 23 km | 97 km W of Tumaco, Departamento de Nariño, Colombia | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
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