M7.2 Earthquake Near Murindó, Colombia, Oct 18, 1992

Map

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

The earthquake

Magnitude: 7.2 (Mwb, body-wave moment), major
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Sun, Oct 18, 1992, 11:11 AM GMT-4
UTC: 1992-10-18 15:11:59 UTC
Depth: 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 7.075° N, 76.862° W
Region: Colombia
Strongest shaking: VII, very strong shaking
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.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
7.2	Mwb, body-wave moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
7.11	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
7.1	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary
7.41	Me, energy	Choy, USGS energy magnitude	Reviewed
7.1	Mww, W-phase moment	Duputel, W-phase inversion	Preliminary

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 5342), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 11
Injuries: 115
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Houses destroyed: Some (about 51 to 100)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

One person killed, 50 injured and damage in the Murindo-Apartado-Medellin area. At least 10 people killed, 65 injured and 1,500 homeless by the explosion of a mud volcano in the San Pedro de Uraba area. Slight damage at Bogota. Felt in much of northwestern Colombia and as far south as Cali. Felt strongly in Darien Province, Panama. Also felt (IV) on the Azuero Peninsula and at Panama City, Panama. Felt at Caracas and Valencia, Venezuela. Also felt on Aruba. Landslides occured in the epicentral area. Liquefaction was observed in the Murindo area and as far north as Apartado. A small island emerged from the Caribbean Sea off San Juan de Uraba. Complex event observed on broadband displacement seismograms. FAULT PLANE SOLUTION: P-Waves NP1:Strike=10 Dip=80 Slip=15 NP2:Strike=277 Dip=75 Slip=170 Principal Axes: (T) Plg=18 Azm=234 (P) Plg=3 Azm=143 Comment: The focal mechanism is poorly controlled and corresponds to strike-slip faulting with a small reverse component. The preferred fault plane is not determined. RADIATED ENERGY No. of sta: 16 Focal mech. F Energy 3.3+0.6*10**15 Nm MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTION Dep 11 No. of sta: 16 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**19 Nm Mrr=-0.06 Mtt=-5.54 Mff=5.61 Mrt=-0.94 Mrf=-0.89 Mtf=-6.13 Principal axes: (T) Val=8.34 Plg=3 Azm=66 (N) Val=0.09 Plg=81 Azm=176 (P) Val=-8.43 Plg=8 Azm=336 Best Double Couple:Mo=8.4*10**19 NP1:Strike=111 Dip=82 Slip=-176 NP2:Strike=21 Dip=86 Slip=-8 CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 38S, 97C M.W.: 33S, 86C Centroid Location: Origin Time 15:12: 9.8 0.1 Lat 7.27N 0.01 Lon 76.34W 0.01 Dep 15.0 FIX Half-duration 5.1 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**19 Nm Mrr=1.57 0.03 Mtt=-0.99 0.02 Mff=-0.58 0.03 Mrt=1.01 0.14 Mrf=3.62 0.16 Mtf=-4.25 0.02 Principal Axes: (T) Val=5.01 Plg=38 Azm=241 (N) Val=1.40 Plg=43 Azm=18 (P) Val=-6.41 Plg=23 Azm=132 Best Double Couple:Mo=5.7*10**19 NP1:Strike=270 Dip=45 Slip=167 NP2:Strike=9 Dip=81 Slip=46

From the USGS event page for usp0005fha. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: VII, very strong shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 31.8% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 3.9 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Strike-slip
Moment magnitude: 7.1 Mww
Nodal plane 1: Strike 0°, dip 78°, rake 3°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 269°, dip 86°, rake 168°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED

Nearest places

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

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 4.2 and up: 64 in the 60 days after this one and 10 in the 30 days before it.

After

The first 60 of 64.

Before

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0005fha (also filed as choy19921018151159, gcmtc101892g, gcmt19921018151159, duputel101892g, atlas19921018151159, iscgem268313). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 1:23 AM UTC.