On Wednesday night, Guatemala was rocked by a major earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale. Social media footage showed the collapsed buildings of Guatemala, which was hit by falling debris that damaged many vehicles. Landslides also struck several routes and forced emergency personnel to respond to clean up.
At 1:12 AM local time (11:12 GMT), the first tremor occurred. Around forty minutes later, two aftershocks with magnitudes of 5 and 4 were recorded.
The epicenter of the earthquake was reported at a depth of 96 kilometers in the Guatemalan city of Nueva Concepción, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).
Guatemala 🔴 Se registran daños En la estación 100 Compañía de Bomberos en Ciudad San Cristóbal, Mixco, Guatemala. se reportan daños estructurales. pic.twitter.com/3DsNsoIg45
— 🅸🅽🅵🅾🆂🅸🆂🅼🅾🅻🅾🅶🅸🅲 (@EarthquakeChil1) February 16, 2022
The cause of the earthquake is unknown.
SOLOLÁ. El sismo registrado en horas de la madrugada causa desprendimiento de tierra en el kilómetro 164 CA-1 jurisdicción de Nahualá, Sololá. Se coordina con la Zona Vial No.5 de Caminos para las acciones de limpieza.Créditos: Cristian Rodríguez, Delegado de Sololá. pic.twitter.com/r34swUta3W
— CONRED (@ConredGuatemala) February 16, 2022
Tuesday’s earthquakes come just days after Guatemala experienced 15 tremors in less than 24 hours. The Richter scale measured the tremors in Central America as 3.2-5.0.
On that occasion, the country’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction confirmed no injuries or building damage was reported.
Because Guatemala lies at the intersection of three plates tectonic, North American, Caribbean and Cocos, earthquakes are possible.
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