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Mag. 4.5 earthquake - North Pacific Ocean, 90 km west of Chinandega, Nicaragua, on Wednesday, Sep 20, 2023 03:55 pm (GMT -6) -

Light magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 233 km depth

20 Sep 22:00 UTC: First to report: INETER after 5 minutes.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Sep 20, 2023 21:55:17 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Wednesday, Sep 20, 2023 03:55 pm (GMT -6)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	4.5
Depth	233.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	12.379°N / 87.918°W North Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua
Antipode	12.379°S / 92.082°E
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	INETER
Nearest volcano	Cosigüina (77 km / 48 mi)
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 29.7°C (85 F), humidity: 69%, wind: 5 m/s (9 kts) from SW
Estimated seismic energy released	3.5 x 10¹¹ joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Nearby places

Distance	Place	Max. shaking intensity(*)	Region	Country
65 km (40 mi) NE of epicenter	Jiquilillo (pop: 4,140)	II Very weak	Chinandega	Nicaragua
82 km (51 mi) E of epicenter	Corinto (pop: 19,200)	II Very weak	Chinandega	Nicaragua
88 km (54 mi) ENE of epicenter	El Viejo (pop: 53,500)	II Very weak	Chinandega	Nicaragua
90 km (56 mi) ENE of epicenter	Chinandega (pop: 126,400)	II Very weak	Chinandega	Nicaragua
96 km (60 mi) ENE of epicenter	Puerto Morazan (pop: 7,670)	II Very weak	Puerto Morazan, Chinandega	Nicaragua
99 km (62 mi) ENE of epicenter	Chichigalpa (pop: 33,100)	II Very weak	Chinandega	Nicaragua
113 km (70 mi) E of epicenter	Leon (pop: 144,500)	II Very weak	Departamento de Leon	Nicaragua
183 km (114 mi) E of epicenter	Managua (pop: 973,100)	II Very weak	Departamento de Managua	Nicaragua

Notes:
(*) Shaking intensity according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) and estimated using seismic models.

Compare Quake Data

Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies

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	Time GMT	Epicenter	Agency
4.5	233 km (145 mi)	2023-09-20 21:55:17	62 Km Al Suroeste De Mechapa, Chinandega, Nicaragua	INETER

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Nicaragua

Seismograms

Seismic station: volcan San Cristobal, Nicaragua (CRIN/NU network) | Distance from quake: 104 km / 64 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station volcan San Cristobal, Nicaragua: 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

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

There are no user reports for this quake.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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