Mexico earthquakes

M4.9 earthquake 2 km WSW of Petatlán, Mexico

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck 2 km WSW of Petatlán, Mexico on Mon, Mar 19, 1979, 6:27 PM CST (00:27 UTC), 51 km (32 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.1 23 km W of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, Mexico. This one was a foreshock.

Petatlán forecastMore in Mexico

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Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude
4.9 (mb, body-wave), light
Magnitude from
USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time
UTC
1979-03-20 00:27:55 UTC
Depth
51.0 km (31.7 mi), shallow
Epicenter
17.532° N, 101.293° W
Region
Mexico
Tsunami flag
No
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.ScaleComputed byNotes
4.9mb, body-waveUSGS National Earthquake Information CenterPreferred · Reviewed
5.24Mw, momentISC-GEM global catalogFinal · ±0.2

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Stations used
71

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 1.9 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 9 in the 30 days before it.

After

  1. 5.123 km W of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, Mexico · 17363 days ago · 76 km deep · 54 km away
  2. 4.520 km S of Papanoa, Mexico · 17357 days ago · 42 km deep · 51 km away
  3. 4.032 km SSW of Petatlán, Mexico · 17324 days ago · 33 km deep · 31 km away

Before

  1. 5.419 km NNE of Coyuquilla Norte, Mexico · 17367 days ago · 33 km deep · 32 km away
  2. 4.420 km ENE of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, Mexico · 17369 days ago · 33 km deep · 54 km away
  3. 4.427 km NE of Petatlán, Mexico · 17371 days ago · 61 km deep · 30 km away
  4. 5.06 km NE of San Miguelito, Mexico · 17371 days ago · 66 km deep · 20 km away
  5. 4.647 km NE of Coyuquilla Norte, Mexico · 17371 days ago · 48 km deep · 62 km away
  6. 5.55 km NE of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, Mexico · 17371 days ago · 52 km deep · 47 km away
  7. 7.612 km SSE of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, Mexico · 17371 days ago · 49 km deep · 31 km away
  8. 5.223 km NNE of Coyuquilla Norte, Mexico · 17385 days ago · 54 km deep · 31 km away
  9. 4.56 km SW of Placeres del Oro, Mexico · 17387 days ago · 33 km deep · 83 km away

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Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000zh0 (also filed as iscgem668538). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 4:16 PM UTC.