Medium magnitude earthquake 4.5 to 10 km deep
5 Sep 06:15 UTC: First to report: VolcanoDiscovery after 4 minutes.
Sep 5 6:15 AM: Now using EMSC data updates
Sep 5 6:55 AM: Magnitude recalculated from 4.6 to 4.5. Depth of hypocenter recalculated from 5.0 to 10.0 km (3.1 to 6.2 mi). Epicenter location corrected 56 km (35 mi) towards SSE.
Updated Sun Sep 5, 2021, 06:21 AM
Moderate magnitude 4.6 earthquake strikes 64 km northwest of Funchal, Portugal in the morning
4.6 earthquake 5 Sep 7:10 am (GMT +1)
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the Spanish Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) which also listed the earthquake at a magnitude of 4.6.
Based on preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused significant damage, but was likely felt by many as a slight vibration in the epicenter area.
Weak tremors could be felt in Porto Moniz (2,800 inhabitants) located 33 km from the epicenter, São Vicente (6,100 inhabitants) at 47 km, Ribeira Brava (5,900 inhabitants) at 55 km, Santana (8,800 inhabitants) 59 km, Câmara de Lobos (32,200 inhabitants) 62 km, Funchal (100,800 inhabitants) 64 km, São Martinho (26,500 inhabitants) 65 km, Caniço (23,400 inhabitants) 72 km and Machico ( population 12,600) at 73 km.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update the magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant earthquake news becomes available. If you are in the region, please share your experience with us through our reporting mechanism, online or through our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone in the world who is interested in learning more about this earthquake.
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Earthquake data
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Date and hour : 5 Sep 2021 06:10:44 UTC –
Local time at epicenter: Sunday September 5, 2021 7:10 am (GMT +1)
Magnitude: 4.5
Depth: 10.0 km
Latitude / longitude of epicenter: 32.57 ° N / 17.25 ° Wâ (North Atlantic Ocean, Portugal)
Antipode: 32.57 ° S / 162.75 ° Eâ
Nearest volcano: Madeira (54 km / 34 mi)
Nearby towns and villages:
17 km (11 mi) SSO of Calheta (pop: 1,620) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
27 km (17 mi) WW of Camara de Lobos (pop: 32,200) -> See nearby earthquakes!
30 km (19 mi) OSO from São Martinho (Funchal) (pop: 26,500) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
32 km (20 mi) southwest of São Vicente (pop: 6,060) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
32 km (20 mi) WW of Funchal (pop: 100,800) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
34 km (21 mi) SSO of Porto Moniz (pop: 2,760) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
40 km (25 mi) OSO of Caniço (pop: 23,400) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
43 km (27 mi) southwest of Santana (pop: 8,800) -> See nearby earthquakes!
48 km (30 mi) WW of Machico (pop: 12,600) -> See nearby earthquakes!
463 km (288 mi) north of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Spain) (pop: 150,700) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
30 km (18 mi) southwest of Madeira Island (pop: 262,500) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
101 km (63 mi) southwest of Porto Santo Island (pop: 5,480) -> See nearby earthquakes!
Clear sky

Main data source: EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Center)
Estimated energy released: 3.5 x 1011 joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tonnes of TNT) Find out more
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report the same earthquake and publish similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It normally takes up to a few hours for the seismic parameters to be calculated with near optimum accuracy.
Mag. | Depth | Site | Source |
4.5 | 30 km | Portugal: ATL | IGN |
4.5 | 10 km | ISLANDS OF MADEIRA, REGION OF PORTUGAL | EMSC |
Previous earthquakes in the same region
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