Strong M6.2 earthquake hits El Salvador
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit El Salvador at 17:18 UTC (11:18 LT) on January 5, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 49 km (30 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
Image credit: TW/SAM, Google
The epicenter was located 51 km (32 miles) SSE of La Libertad (population 16 855), 60 km (37 miles) SSW of Zacatecoluca, and 61 km (38 miles) SSE of Zaragoza (population 11 749), El Salvador.
124 000 people are estimated to have felt strong shaking, 2 373 000 moderate and 5 629 000 light.
The USGS issued a Yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. Some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized. Past yellow alerts have required a local or regional level response.
Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of El Salvador.
Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are mud wall and adobe block construction.
Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides that might have contributed to losses.
Preliminary reports by Civil Protection indicate no casualties or material damage.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) reported six aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.9 to 4.8.
Estimated population exposure to earthquake shaking
Selected cities exposed
Regional seismicity
References:
1 M6.2 earthquake El Salvador – USGS – January 5, 2025
2 M6.2 earthquake El Salvador – EMSC – January 5, 2025
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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