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Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 48 km south of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, Guatemala, on Tuesday, December 31, 1974 at 20:21 GMT

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 48 km south of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, Guatemala, on Tuesday, December 31, 1974 at 20:21 GMT Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 48 km south of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, Guatemala, on Tuesday, December 31, 1974 at 20:21 GMT

Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 39 km depth

Earthquake details

Date & timeDec 31, 1974 20:21:09 UTC
Local time at epicenter
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.1
Depth39.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude14.126°N / 91.824°W (North Pacific Ocean, Guatemala)
Antipode14.126°S / 88.176°E
Shaking intensityModerate shaking near epicenter
Felt0 reports
Primary data sourceUSGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcanoSanto Tomas (75 km / 47 mi)
Nearby towns and cities21 km (13 mi) SSE of Champerico (pop: 7,760) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
48 km (30 mi) SSW of Retalhuleu (pop: 36,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
53 km (33 mi) WSW of Pueblo Nuevo (pop: 18,200) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
54 km (33 mi) SSW of Nuevo San Carlos (pop: 19,200) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
64 km (40 mi) S of Coatepec (pop: 45,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
85 km (53 mi) SSW of Quetzaltenango (pop: 132,200) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
89 km (56 mi) WSW of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa (pop: 62,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
100 km (62 mi) SW of Solola (pop: 45,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
143 km (89 mi) WSW of Mixco (pop: 473,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
152 km (95 mi) WSW of Guatemala (pop: 994,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
Estimated seismic energy released8.9 x 1013 joules (24.8 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 21301 tons of TNT or 1.3 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
Show interactive Map
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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.DepthLocationSource
6.139 kmoffshore GuatemalaUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

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.

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (7 quakes)

Date and timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
Apr 4, 1975 14:36
48 years ago
4.2

143 km
23 km SE of Mazatenango, Suchitepeque, GuatemalaMore
Jan 21, 1975 00:36
48 years ago
4.4

106 km
52 km W of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, GuatemalaMore
Jan 11, 1975 18:07
48 years ago
4.6

104 km
6.2 km E of Mazatenango, Suchitepeque, GuatemalaMore
Jan 9, 1975 06:12
48 years ago
4.6

59 km
71 km SW of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, GuatemalaMore
Jan 1, 1975 23:41
48 years ago
4.4

108 km
39 km SW of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, GuatemalaMore
Jan 1, 1975 22:52
48 years ago
5.0

80 km
87 km SW of Quetzaltenango, GuatemalaMore
Dec 31, 1974 21:56
48 years ago
4.9

75 km
47 km SW of Retalhuleu, Departamento de Retalhuleu, GuatemalaMore

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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