*/
On Wednesday morning a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit 23 kilometers off Guatemala’s Pacific coast. The earthquake primarily hit southwestern Guatemala that thus far has killed at least 52 people, left 22 people missing and has injured hundreds of people. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake was followed by 70 aftershocks in the first 24 hours alone, out of which four were over 5 in magnitude. The area most affected by this earthquake is the southwestern region of Quetzaltenango and San Marcos, not far from the Mexican border.
The earthquake caused fear over a possible tsunami in El Salvador and Mexico. The tsunami alert led to evacuations from schools, homes and offices off the El Salvadoran coast reaching as far north as Mexico City, which is over 600 miles away from Guatemala. This is the worst earthquake to hit Guatemala since the 1976 7.5-magnitude earthquake that left 25,000 people dead.
According to Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina in an interview with BBC there is a possibility that more than 10,000 homes are still uninhabitable.
Comments