Although El Salvador offers beautiful beaches, majestic hikes, and great coffee, keep in mind that it is also home to frequent seismic activity.
While small tremors are common in El Salvador, and often go unnoticed, the country experienced two relatively large earthquakes in the past week alone.
The two quakes both measured over 5.5 on the Richter scale, and caused some store shake-downs, evacuations, as well as a few minor landslides.
It's been just 25 years since the country suffered a 7.7 magnitude quake which caused deadly landslides that resulted in over a 1000 casualties, so the people are still understandably on edge.
Here, the people refer to more powerful earthquakes (above 5.5 or 6 magnitude) as "terremotos", and smaller tremors are typically called "sismos" or "temblores".
The Quakes
The first earthquake occurred on Jan 5th off the coast of La Paz. Measuring 6.4, it was the most powerful earthquake El Salvador had experienced in over five years.
Then, a few days later on Jan 9th, the country was hit with a 5.8 magnitude quake off the coast of Sonsonate.
Thankfully neither quake caused significant damage, and there were no reported casualties.
Debris clouds could be seen in the distance from minor landslides, caused by the quake.
The common thinking here is that several small scale "sismos," which relieve the Earth over time, are much better than a single powerful earthquake.
Let's hope the latest quakes bide us some time until the next big one.
Preparation
If you're planning to spend a significant amount of time in El Salvador, consider looking for an earthquake-resistant building, and be prepared for the minor "sismos" that occur on a regular basis.
Until next time...
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References
Fallen Groceries Image [1]
Landslide Debris Cloud Image [2]