EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Masachapa, Nicaragua

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

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 65 km (40 mi) west-southwest of Masachapa, Nicaragua on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 19:55 UTC, at a depth of 37 km (23 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow quakes like this one shake the surface hardest. The nearest city of a million or more people is San Salvador, about 337 km (209 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth37 km (23 mi)
Time (UTC)Nov 7 19:55
Location11.53°N 87.05°W
Nearest townMasachapa · 65 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 70 km (44 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.

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 112 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 7, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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