On Thursday an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked Central America. El Salvador and Nicaragua had the highest impact. A Tsunami warning was issued to the locals and were advised to move to higher grounds. According to U.S. Geological survey, the earthquake was 75 miles off the coast of El Salvador, at a depth of 20 miles beneath the Pacific Ocean, near the Fault line.
The earthquake has hit those regions that are less developed, have little infrastructure and do not have any emergency plans for natural disasters. Waves almost up to a height of 3 feet are anticipated to hit coastal areas that are 300 km from the epicenter of the earthquake. All those living on the pacific coast and all those on the coast of El Salvador were advised to move at least 1 Km inland. Within hours of the earthquake,the warning was lifted by the assistant director of the Sinapred national disaster prevention agency, Guillermo Gonzalez, at a press conference. he added that they are keeping a close watch on the hurricane Otto that has mostly affected Nicaragua. The tremors of this quake were felt in Managua the capital of Nicaragua, and also as far as San Jose, Honduras, and Guatemala.
A state of emergency was declared immediately by Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, after the quake. The country was already on high alert for hurricane Otto which struck earlier the same day. No casualties have yet been reported. Thousands are being evacuated from the coast and 7000 alone were evacuated from Nicaragua. An hour before the earthquake hit, Nicaragua’s Carribean coast was hit by hurricane Otto, with winds of 110 mph. This is the third earthquake in the Pacific in the month of November at such high magnitude. The first at New Zealand on Monday, 21 November, with magnitude 7.4. Followed by Japan on Tuesday, 22 November, with the magnitude of 6.9.
