Earthquake off coast of El Salvador

1/13/01 Magnitude=7.6, 12.83 N 88.79 W, Depth=39 km Time: 17:33:29 GMT

  El Salvador Earthquake recorded by Lehigh University Seismic Station 

A major earthquake occurred off the coast of El Salvador about 65 miles (110 km) south-southeast of San Salvador at 12:33 PM EST, January 13, 2001 (11:33 AM local time in El Salvador). A preliminary magnitude of 7.6 was and focus depth of 39 km was computed for this earthquake. The still-rising death toll is at about 600 with as many as 1,000 people still missing and feared dead. The Salvadoran suburb of Santa Tecla, about three miles west of the capital San Salvador, was hit hardest with at least 400 people killed. Large landslides caused by the earthquake buried and damaged thousands of homes. The earthquake is said to have caused as many as 185 landslides across El Salvador. Nearly 18,000 people have been evacuated from dangerous areas, however key roads have been destroyed and water service has been cut from up to half the country’s 6 million people. The earthquake also shook neighboring countries including Guatemala, where eight people are reported dead. Buildings swayed in Mexico City, about 600 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.

The focus of the earthquake was about 100 km offshore from San Salvador and 39 km deep. The first motion moment solution is determined as an extensional event. This is an area of oblique convergence of the subducting Cocos plate beneath the Caribbean plate. The extensional earthquake is most likely the stress caused by bending of the down going Cocos slab.