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Moderate mag. 4.6 earthquake - 7.1 km north of Chirilagua, Departamento de San Miguel, El Salvador, on Saturday, Dec 26, 2020 at 9:15 am (GMT -6)

Moderate magnitude 4.6 earthquake at 8 km depth

26 Dec 15:21 UTC: First to report: INETER after 6 minutes.
26 Dec 15:28: Magnitude recalculated from 4.5 to 4.6. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 4.0 to 8.0 km (from 2.5 to 5 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 2.1 km (1.3 mi) towards SSW.

Update Sat, 26 Dec 2020, 15:27

Magnitude 4.5 earthquake strikes near Chirilagua, El Salvador

4.5 quake 26 Dec 9:15 am (GMT -6)

Just 12 minutes ago, a 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck near Chirilagua, Departamento de San Miguel, El Salvador. The tremor was recorded in the morning on Saturday 26 December 2020 at 9:15 am local time, at a very shallow depth of 4 km below the surface.
The event was filed by the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER), the first seismological agency to report it.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc.
In Chirilagua (pop. 6,400) located 9 km from the epicenter, and Jucuaran (pop. 1,600) 16 km away, the quake should have been felt as light shaking.
Weak shaking might have been felt in San Alejo (pop. 5,100) located 22 km from the epicenter, San Miguel (pop. 161,900) 22 km away, El Transito (pop. 9,500) 26 km away, San Rafael Oriente (pop. 19,100) 27 km away, La Union (pop. 26,800) 29 km away, and Usulutan (pop. 51,900) 37 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.

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Earthquake details

Date & time	Dec 26, 2020 15:15:02 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Saturday, Dec 26, 2020 at 9:15 am (GMT -6)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	4.6
Depth	8.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	13.282°N / 88.121°W (Departamento de San Miguel, El Salvador)
Antipode	13.282°S / 91.879°E
Shaking intensity	Moderate shaking
Felt	2 reports
Primary data source	INETER
Nearest volcano	Laguna Aramuaca (16 km / 10 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	7 km (4 mi) NNE of Chirilagua (San Miguel) (pop: 6,390) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 23 km (15 mi) SSE of San Miguel (pop: 161,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 27 km (17 mi) ESE of San Rafael Oriente (San Miguel) (pop: 19,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 44 km (27 mi) ESE of Santiago de Maria (Santiago de María, Usulután) (pop: 15,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 46 km (29 mi) E of Puerto El Triunfo (Usulután) (pop: 19,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 83 km (52 mi) ESE of San Vicente (pop: 41,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 84 km (52 mi) ESE of Zacatecoluca (La Paz) (pop: 39,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 85 km (53 mi) SE of Sensuntepeque (Cabañas) (pop: 20,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 124 km (77 mi) ESE of San Salvador (pop: 526,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 133 km (83 mi) SW of Tegucigalpa (Francisco Morazán, Honduras) (pop: 850,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Clear Sky 25°C (77 F), humidity: 48%, wind: 1 m/s (2 kts) from NNE
Estimated seismic energy released	5 x 10¹¹ joules (139 megawatt hours, equivalent to 120 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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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.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
4.6	8 km	12 Km Al Noroeste De Intipucá, El Salvador	INETER
4.5	6 km	EL SALVADOR	EMSC

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Seismograms

Seismic station: Tegucigalpa, Honduras (TGUH/CU network) | Distance from quake: 126 km / 78 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Tegucigalpa, Honduras: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.2-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

User reports for this quake (2)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

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near La Union (19.6 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

San Miguel,jardines de el rio / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

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