M6.3 Earthquake near off the coast of Central America — October 16, 2022
2022-10-16 12:48:21 UTC (2022-10-16) · approx. 6:48 AM UTC-6 local
On October 16, 2022 at 12:48 UTC, a magnitude 6.3 shallow crustal earthquake struck near off the coast of Central America, at a depth of 15.0 km and coordinates 4.3584°, -87.5675°. The USGS PAGER system issued a green alert level for this event, indicating no significant casualties or damage expected. This earthquake was detected by 158 seismic stations with excellent location accuracy and was assigned a USGS significance rating of 611, making it a moderate-impact event.
Physical scale: An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 releases seismic energy equivalent to roughly 43 kilotons of TNT. Empirical fault-scaling laws (Wells & Coppersmith, 1994) estimate the subsurface rupture length at approximately 13 km — a useful intuition for the size of the slip patch on the fault.
ShakeMap — predicted shaking intensity
Modeled ground-motion intensity contoured on the Modified Mercalli scale (MMI). Computed by the USGS from the moment-tensor solution and regional ground-motion prediction equations.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap. View interactive ShakeMap on USGS
Earthquake Details
-87.5675°E
Technical Information
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Common Questions
How strong was the magnitude 6.3 earthquake near off the coast of Central America?
The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck near off the coast of Central America on October 16, 2022 at 12:48 UTC had a depth of 15.0 km. For context, this was a strong earthquake capable of causing significant damage.
Where did the earthquake occur?
The earthquake epicenter was located at 4.3584°, -87.5675°, which is near off the coast of Central America.
Were there aftershocks?
Aftershock activity is monitored continuously by the USGS. Aftershock sequences from magnitude 6.3 earthquakes can continue for weeks to months and gradually diminish over time.
Actions
Authoritative source: USGS event page (event ID: us6000iu4b). All scientific values on this page are sourced verbatim from the USGS feed.
Cite this page: EarthquakeTracker.org. (2022, October 16, 2022). M6.3 Earthquake near off the coast of Central America — October 16, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2022 from https://www.earthquaketracker.org/earthquakes/event/us6000iu4b/