Thursday, August 29, 2024 | News
Update: The President of El Salvador
Nayib Bukele confirmed that there was no damage following the 6.1 earthquake that struck the Central American country. “There are no personal or material damages reported so far. Electricity, telephone, internet, everything is functioning normally. Thank God,” the president wrote on his official X account.
On Wednesday, August 28, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in El Salvador. The Ministry of Environment reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.1, located off the coast of La Libertad at around 3:57:51 PM. The United States Geological Survey reported that several countries were affected, including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico, and placed the epicenter 72 km from Acajutla, El Salvador.
Environmental authorities informed on Wednesday night that they are maintaining constant and real-time monitoring of seismic activity in El Salvador and the region to provide timely information to the population. “We are processing the data to update shortly,” the Ministry of Environment of El Salvador reported on their official X account. As of 6:00 PM, a total of 8 aftershocks had been recorded, of which 7 were reported as felt by the population, with magnitudes ranging between 3.4 and 4.6 on the Richter scale. By the evening, the number of aftershocks had risen to 9, according to their monitoring.
Tsunami ruled out
The Ministry of Environment reported that the origin of this seismic activity is attributed to the subduction process of the Cocos and Caribbean tectonic plates and does not represent a tsunami threat to El Salvador. However, they consider that there is a high probability that events with magnitudes between 3.0 and 5.0 will continue to be recorded in the area in the coming days. The probability of an earthquake of similar magnitude or greater than the main event is very low, although its occurrence cannot be completely ruled out, the source said. From our Threat Observatory, we maintain constant monitoring of seismicity to provide timely information about any earthquake in our country or the region. The institution urged the population to stay informed through official sources while also publishing some recommendations on what to do during an earthquake.