Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - 23 km south of Golfito, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on Saturday, 23 Jan 2021 7:47 am (GMT -6) -

Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - 23 km south of Golfito, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on Saturday, 23 Jan 2021 7:47 am (GMT -6)

Moderate magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 9 km depth

23 Jan 13:52 UTC: First to report: EMSC after 5 minutes.
23 Jan 14:41: Magnitude recalculated from 4.2 to 4.5. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 10.0 to 9.0 km (from 6.2 to 5.6 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 4.7 km (2.9 mi) towards SW.
Update Sat, 23 Jan 2021, 13:57
Light magnitude 4.2 earthquake 20 km southeast of Golfito, Costa Rica
4.2 quake 23 Jan 7:47 am (GMT -6)
4.2 quake 23 Jan 7:47 am (GMT -6)
An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 occurred in the morning on Saturday 23 January 2021 at 7:47 am local time near Golfito, Provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica, as reported by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. 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 Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.2 as well.
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 Golfito (pop. 6,800) located 20 km from the epicenter, Corredor (pop. 7,100) 27 km away, El Palmar (pop. 4,500) 27 km away, Canoas (pop. 4,600) 27 km away, and Puerto Armuelles (pop. 11,700) 28 km away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include San Vito (pop. 4,000) located 45 km from the epicenter, La Concepcion (pop. 17,700) 49 km away, and David (pop. 82,000) 69 km away.
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Earthquake data:

Date & time: 23 Jan 2021 13:47:30 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Saturday, 23 Jan 2021 7:47 am (GMT -6)
Magnitude: 4.5
Depth: 9.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 8.4°N / 83.09°W (Golfito, Puntarenas, Costa Rica)
Nearest volcano: Baru (71 km / 44 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
23 km (14 mi) S of Golfito (Puntarenas) (pop: 6,780) --> See nearby quakes!
29 km (18 mi) WNW of Puerto Armuelles (Chiriquí, Panama) (pop: 11,700) --> See nearby quakes!
31 km (19 mi) SSW of Corredor (Ciudad Neily, Puntarenas) (pop: 7,080) --> See nearby quakes!
31 km (20 mi) WSW of Canoas (Puntarenas) (pop: 4,570) --> See nearby quakes!
33 km (20 mi) W of La Esperanza (Chiriquí, Panama) (pop: 1,890) --> See nearby quakes!
49 km (30 mi) SSW of San Vito (Puntarenas) (pop: 3,980) --> See nearby quakes!
53 km (33 mi) WSW of La Concepcion (Chiriquí, Panama) (pop: 17,700) --> See nearby quakes!
65 km (40 mi) SW of Volcan (Bugaba, Chiriquí, Panama) (pop: 10,300) --> See nearby quakes!
202 km (126 mi) SSE of San Jose (San José) (pop: 335,000) --> See nearby quakes!
260 km (162 mi) SE of Puntarenas (pop: 35,700) --> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Few Clouds 22°C (72 F), humidity: 88%, wind: 2 m/s (4 kts) from NE
Primary data source: EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
Estimated released energy: 3.5 x 1011 joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tons of TNT) 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
4.59 kmCOSTA RICAEMSC
4.24 km21 Km Al Suroeste De Laurel, Costa RicaINETER
4.59 km7 Km Al Suroeste De Pavon, Golfito., Costa RicaRSN

User reports for this quake (1)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
22.1 km W of epicenter [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s
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Earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900


Map of earlier quakes

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