Very strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - Abangares, Provincia de Guanacaste, 44 km northwest of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on Saturday, 16 March 1991 at 06:02 (GMT)

Very strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - Abangares, Provincia de Guanacaste, 44 km northwest of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on Saturday, 16 March 1991 at 06:02 (GMT)

Very strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake at 33 km depth

Date & time: 16 Mar 1991 06:02:10 UTC
Magnitude: 6.3
Depth: 33.3 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 10.174°N / 85.184°W (Abangares, Provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica)
Nearest volcano: Cerro Chopo (35 km / 22 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
16 km (10 mi) N of Nandayure (Guanacaste) (pop: 1,650) --> See nearby quakes!
29 km (18 mi) E of Nicoya (Guanacaste) (pop: 15,300) --> See nearby quakes!
30 km (19 mi) SSW of Canas (Cañas, Guanacaste) (pop: 20,300) --> See nearby quakes!
49 km (31 mi) WNW of Chacarita (Puntarenas) (pop: 26,400) --> See nearby quakes!
58 km (36 mi) SSE of Liberia (Guanacaste) (pop: 45,400) --> See nearby quakes!
60 km (37 mi) WNW of Esparza (Espíritu Santo, Puntarenas) (pop: 15,600) --> See nearby quakes!
87 km (54 mi) S of San José (Upala, Alajuela) (pop: 31,400) --> See nearby quakes!
123 km (77 mi) WNW of San Jose (San José) (pop: 335,000) --> See nearby quakes!
236 km (147 mi) W of Puerto Limon (Limón) (pop: 63,100) --> See nearby quakes!
247 km (153 mi) SSE of Managua (Nicaragua) (pop: 973,100) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 1.8 x 1014 joules (49.4 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 42502 tons of TNT or 2.7 atomic bombs!) More info
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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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 6.333 kmCosta RicaUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
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Aftershocks

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (1 quakes):
  • 12 Sep 1991 05:11 UTC
    | M 4.3 |
    60.7 km (37.7 mi) depth
    |
    47 km (29 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900


Map of earlier quakes

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