M 5.6 in Guyana on 31 Jan 2021 19:05 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a low humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID EQ 1253944
Earthquake Magnitude: 5.6M
Depth: 7.22 Km
Lat/Lon: 2.6669 , -59.6065
Event Date: 31 Jan 2021 19:05 UTC
31 Jan 2021 15:05 Local
Exposed Population: Less then 100 people in MMI VII
About 32000 people within 100km
Inserted at: 01 Feb 2021 15:06 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
5.4 (Guyana)
INFORM Coping capacity list: Guyana= 5.4; Brazil= 4.1

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 GDACS score
NEIC 0.3 0.3
us6000ddge Scaled population (raster) 1.79  
  C1 shakemap -0.59  
  C2 shakemap 0.53  
  Country Vulnerability 0  
  INFORM_normalised 1.04  
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Guyana - Earthquake (ECHO 01 Feb 2021)Mon, 01 Feb 2021 02:00

  • An earthquake of 5.7 M at a depth of 10 km occurred in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region of south-western Guyana on 31 January at 19.05 UTC (15.05 Local time). The epicentre was located approximately 30 km north-west of Lumid Pau village and about 83 km south-east of Lethem Town.
  • USGS PAGER estimates that up to 1, 000 people were exposed to very strong shaking and up to 3,000 people to strong shaking.
  • According to initial media reports, the earthquake caused some damage to buildings and properties. Local authorities have mobilised response teams to conduct an assessment in the area and provide support to those  affected.
  • No heavy rainfall is forecast over south-western Guyana on 1-2 February.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Articles: 7 | About casualties: 0 | Last hour: 0

Guyana - Earthquake (GDACS, HydroMET Guayan, media, NOAA-CPC, USGS) (E ... Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:21:00 +0100.

An earthquake of 5.7 M at a depth of 10 km occurred in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region of south-western Guyana on 31 January at 19.05 UTC (15.05 Local time). The epicentre was located approximately 30 km north-west of Lumid Pau vill
...(more)
Minor damage reported in Reg. 9 after 5.7 earthquakeMon, 01 Feb 2021 06:22:00 +0100.

FOR a few seconds on Sunday afternoon, sometime around 15:03h, persons across Guyana questioned whether a “big truck” was passing outside their homes or whether they were experiencing a dizzy spell, but it was that a 5.7 earthquake struck B
...(more)
Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Guyana --EMSCSun, 31 Jan 2021 23:41:00 +0100.

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Guyana EMSC. An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck Guyana, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Sunday. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), the EMSC added. Reuters.
Guyana: Magnitude-5.7 earthquake occurs near Lethem Jan. 31Sun, 31 Jan 2021 22:50:00 +0100.

Event. A magnitude-5.7 earthquake occurred in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region of southwestern Guyana at 1505 Jan. 31. The epicenter was about 83 km (51 miles) southeast of Lethem. The tremor occurred at a depth of about 9.7 km (6 mi
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (48), (3), NEIC (4), OCHA (1), INGV (1), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), USGS (5), INFORM (2),