By: Staff Writer
July 23, 2024
A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Guatemala near the El Salvador border on Saturday according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
This quake was felt in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Civil protection authorities of the Central American countries reported no casualties or damage to infrastructure.
The tremor, which occurred at 8:53 PM local time (02:53 GMT), was centered approximately eight kilometers southeast of the city of Xalapa and occurred at a depth of 265.5 kilometers.
The seismological institute in El Salvador recorded the quake at a magnitude of 5.9 while that of Nicaragua registered it at 5.2-magnitude.
This is the second quake in Guatemala in the space of three months with the previous one, a 6.4 magnitude, hit in early May.
Central America is on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast area of intense tectonic activity that runs along the west coast of the Americas and across the Pacific basin.