M 4.7 in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on 15 Dec 2021 07:03 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 1301755
Earthquake Magnitude: 4.7M
Depth: 35 Km
Lat/Lon: -59.4654 , -25.7498
Event Date: 15 Dec 2021 07:03 UTC
15 Dec 2021 05:03 Local
Exposed Population:
No people affected in 100km
Inserted at: 15 Dec 2021 07:53 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
1.1 (South Georgia & the South Sandwich Is.)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake GDACS score
NEIC 0 0
us6000gccl Scaled population (vector) 0  
  C1 earthquake 1  
  C2 earthquake 0  
  Country Vulnerability 0  
  INFORM_normalised 1  
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Spain - Volcanic activity, update (ECHO 19 Oct 2021)Tue, 19 Oct 2021 11:48

  • The eruption is ongoing in Cumbre la Vieja volcano, as the main flow of lava is running along the northern flank towards the western coast of La Palma, in an area south-west of the La Laguna mountain (south of Tazacorte).
  • According to the Department of National Security (DSN), the height of the ash and gas column reaches 4,200 metres. On 19 October, the population of El Paso has been recommended to stay indoors, while activities for two educational centres will take place on-line, as air quality might worsen due to the possibility of the lava reaching the coast of Tazacorte. 
  • According to the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (), which was activated on 19 September to support the damage assessment, up to 2,017 buildings have been affected by the volcanic event.
  • La Palma airport is operational, although there are delays in inter-island flights due to the volcanic ash cloud.
Spain - Volcanic activity, update (ECHO 21 Oct 2021)Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:33

  • In La Palma island (Canary Islands, Spain), new evacuations have been ordered for residents in the Municipalities of Llanos de Aridanne and Tazacorte, due to the advancement of the lava flow further north-west, as reported by the Department of National Security (DSN).
  • As of 21 October, the area of nearly 810 ha has been affected by the advance of the lava flow of Cumbre la Vieja volcano.
  • On 20 October, an Inexpensive Device for Sea Level measurements (IDSL-50) was installed on the coast of Tazacorte by the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN), in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre (JRC). 
Spain - Volcanic activity, update (ECHO 28 Oct 2021)Thu, 28 Oct 2021 12:22

  • A new rupture of the main cone has been reported on 27 October and the lava has been flowing westwards over the coast. An increase in sulfur dioxide (SO2) values has been recorded on the west side of the island as well as the seismic activity with earthquakes greater than 3.5 MbLg in medium and deep depths (more than 20 km).   
  • According to the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (), 2,183 buildings have been destroyed, 113 damaged and an area of 911 ha affected.
  • Following the possibility that the northern lava flow could reach the sea, the Maritime Captaincy established a perimeter of exclusion from Puerto Naos to Tazacorte and 0.5 nautical mile off the coast.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2025. 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

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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 (41), (3), NEIC (4), OCHA (1), INGV (1), INFORM (2), USGS (2),