Moderate mag. 5.0 earthquake - 16 km southeast of Duran, Provincia del Guayas, Ecuador, on Thursday, 21 Jan 2021 5:15 am (GMT -5) -

Moderate magnitude 5.0 earthquake at 46 km depth

21 Jan 10:18 UTC: First to report: IGEPN after 3 minutes.
21 Jan 10:20: Magnitude recalculated from 5.2 to 5.1. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 45.0 to 46.0 km (from 28 to 29 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1.1 km (0.7 mi) towards S.
21 Jan 10:22: Magnitude recalculated from 5.1 to 5.0.

Update Thu, 21 Jan 2021, 10:24

Significant earthquake of magnitude 5.0 just reported 16 km southeast of Duran, Ecuador

5.0 quake 21 Jan 5:15 am (GMT -5)

An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 occurred early morning on Thursday 21 January 2021 at 5:15 am local time near Duran, Durán, Provincia del Guayas, Ecuador, as reported by the Institute of Geophysics of the National Polytechnic School in Quito (IGEPN).
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a moderately shallow depth of 46 km. 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.
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 Duran (pop. 167,800) located 16 km from the epicenter, Guayaquil (pop. 1,952,000) 17 km away, Yaguachi Nuevo (pop. 27,900) 22 km away, San Francisco de Milagro (pop. 133,500) 25 km away, Naranjito (pop. 34,200) 35 km away, Samborondon (pop. 24,100) 36 km away, El Triunfo (pop. 32,300) 45 km away, Naranjal (pop. 32,000) 47 km away, and Babahoyo (pop. 76,300) 59 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.

Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic alerts online:
Android | IOS

Earthquake data:

Date & time: 21 Jan 2021 10:15:34 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Thursday, 21 Jan 2021 5:15 am (GMT -5)
Magnitude: 5
Depth: 46.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 2.28°S / 79.76°W

(Duran, Provincia del Guayas, Ecuador)
Nearest volcano: Chimborazo (139 km / 86 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
16 km (10 mi) SE of Duran (Guayas) (pop: 167,800) --> See nearby quakes!
17 km (10 mi) ESE of Guayaquil (Guayas) (pop: 1,952,000) --> See nearby quakes!
22 km (13 mi) SSW of Yaguachi Nuevo (San Jacinto de Yaguachi, Guayas) (pop: 27,900) --> See nearby quakes!
25 km (15 mi) SW of San Francisco de Milagro (Guayas) (pop: 133,500) --> See nearby quakes!
35 km (22 mi) WSW of Naranjito (Guayas) (pop: 34,200) --> See nearby quakes!
36 km (22 mi) S of Samborondon (Guayas) (pop: 24,100) --> See nearby quakes!
45 km (28 mi) SSE of El Triunfo (Cantón Daule, Guayas) (pop: 32,300) --> See nearby quakes!
47 km (29 mi) NNW of Naranjal (Guayas) (pop: 32,000) --> See nearby quakes!
49 km (31 mi) WNW of La Troncal (Cañar) (pop: 36,400) --> See nearby quakes!
266 km (165 mi) SSW of San Francisco de Quito (Pichincha) (pop: 1,399,800) --> See nearby quakes!

Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Light Rain

24.4°C (76 F), humidity: 83%, wind: 2 m/s (3 kts) from NW

Primary data source: IGEPN (Institute of Geophysics of the National Polytechnic School in Quito)
Estimated released energy: 2 x 10¹² joules (554 megawatt hours, equivalent to 477 tons of TNT) More info

Show interactive Map

[smaller] [bigger]

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.

Magnitude	Depth	Location	Source
M 5.0	46 km	Ecuador - Guayas, A 14.53km De Duran	IGEPN
M 4.8	73 km	Near Coast of Ecuador	GFZ
M 4.9	71 km	NEAR COAST OF ECUADOR	EMSC
M 4.9	83 km	Near the Coast of Ecuador	USGS

Most recent quakes Top 20 quakes past 24 hrs Quakes in Ecuador

User reports for this quake (55)

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

Contribute:
Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it.
Flag as inappropriate.
Mark as helpful or interesting.
Send your own user report!

Edificio River Side (same building as Banco Pichin / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : I woke up to shaking at about 5:16 am in my apartment in Cuenca, Ecuador (The Riverside Building that contains the Pichincha Bank on Av Ordonez Lasso y Calle de Los Claveles). It lasted about 5 seconds. It did not set off car alarms outside and I did not feel any aftershocks. I did hear creaking of the building walls and ceiling in my apartment within a minute after the shaking. | One user found this interesting.

Puertas del Sol, Cuenca, Ecuador (105.3 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : I felt kind of a hummming that alerted me. It was followed within seconds by a brief, forceful jerking movement - enough to make a sound in the roof beams.

184.4 km NW of epicenter [Map] / not felt : Felt nothing in Manta, whereas have felt many of thd smaller ones from canoa area over the last few weeks. (reported through our app)

20.2 km NW of epicenter [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 5-10 s : Strong but over quick | One user found this interesting. (reported through our app)

Guayaquil (20.1 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Strong, start with a strong sound coming from far and later vibrating all the floor | One user found this interesting. (reported through our app)

Guayaquil / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : It felt like a wave from the ocean just passing through traveling in a precise direction. When it passed, the rumbling stopped, lasting only deconds

29.8 km NNW of epicenter [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging (reported through our app)

114.2 km NE of epicenter [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) (reported through our app)

Guyaquil (27.2 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Fue un poco fuerte pero de corta duración nos asustamos

La Paz (131.7 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s : Felt like riding on a train.

107.1 km SE of epicenter [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Bellavista (20.2 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Estaba durmiendo, cuando sentí el movimiento, me levante y salí de mi casa, ahora estoy en la sala

25.2 km WNW of epicenter [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app)

Guayaquil (24.5 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Was pretty strong with strong vibrations. Woke me out from f my sleep

109.1 km SE of epicenter [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) : Big jolt

Samborondon (19.6 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : short vibration as a turbulence in plane

108 km SE of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

34.8 km NNW of epicenter [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) (reported through our app)

1.1 km N of epicenter [Map] / not felt

114.9 km SE of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

142.6 km ENE of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app)

Remeson corto tiempo (16 km NNW of epicenter) [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI)

25.4 km WNW of epicenter [Map] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) (reported through our app)

29.6 km NNW of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s (reported through our app)

Riobamba (142.6 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app)

107 km SE of epicenter [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s (reported through our app)

22.6 km NW of epicenter [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app)

Camilo Ponce enriqu (85.8 km S of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app)

27.6 km WNW of epicenter [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) (reported through our app)

Cuenca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s : Was asleep, and the shaking of the bed woke me up.

Píllaro / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : Me desperté a las 5h15 a.m.

Samborondón / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Challuabamba / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake

Guayaquil / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s

Guayaquil , / not felt : Was asleep at the time

Cuenca Ecuador / Strong shaking (MMI VI) : Laying Inn bed sleeping and bed shook. Dry hard and woke us all up. In cuenca

Duran Guayas Ecuador / Light shaking (MMI IV)

cuenca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : I was already awake and the three shakes were over in less than 10 seconds

Guayaquil / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating

Guayaquil / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Loja / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Riobamba / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Closet shaking, woke me

Riobamba in La Avenida / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 2-5 s

Guayaquil / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Duran / Very strong shaking (MMI VII) / 1-2 s

Puntilla / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Cuenca, Ecuador / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : I was sheken awake in my bed at 5:17 am. I also heard a faint rumble as it was shaking.

Durán / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Me levanté al baño y de pronto sentí el temblor

cuenca, azuay, ecuador / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : woke me up

Guayaquil / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Guayaquil / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 15-20 s

Cuenca / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Woke up from a sound sleep.

Flor de Bastión Bloque 17 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Guayaquil Ceibos / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

River towers Samborondón / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 10-15 s

Try our free app!

Android | iOS version

to top

Aftershocks

More info

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes):

11 Feb 2021 07:15 UTC
| M 3.6 |
42 km (26.1 mi) depth
|
9 km (6 mi) distance
| IGEPN | Details
21 Jan 2021 10:34 UTC
| M 3.5 |
47 km (29.2 mi) depth
|
2 km (2 mi) distance
| IGEPN | Details