EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Chinandega, Nicaragua

Map: the earthquake near Chinandega, Nicaragua, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 2 km (1 mi) west of Chinandega, Nicaragua on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 19:55 UTC, at a depth of 159 km (99 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At this intermediate depth, shaking spreads out before it reaches the surface. The nearest city of a million or more people is San Salvador, about 253 km (157 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth159 km (99 mi)
Time (UTC)Nov 4 19:55
Location12.63°N 87.15°W
Nearest townChinandega · 2 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 162 km (100 mi) from the boundary between the Cocos and Caribbean plates. Most earthquakes happen along plate boundaries like this one, where the pieces of Earth’s outer shell collide, pull apart or grind past each other. Stress builds up over years until the rock suddenly slips. At 159 km down, it most likely broke inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle beneath its neighbor, in what geologists call a subduction zone.

The red lines on the map are plate boundaries.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 4.5 released roughly the energy of 85 tons of TNT. That is about 5.6 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, a quake people nearby feel but that rarely causes damage. The strongest earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in Chile in 1960, released about 32,000,000 times more than this one.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 111 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger within 300 km (186 mi) since 1900. The strongest:

Official details, updates and the shaking map: USGS event page.

See every earthquake on November 4, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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