Strong earthquake felt in Guatemala; no damage [Archive]

vivfox

01-18-2010, 05:29 PM

Ghost_Tracker

01-18-2010, 06:22 PM

GUATEMALA CITY — A strong earthquake has rocked Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, but no there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in either country.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0.

The USGS says it hit Monday morning about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Guatemala City, where it was felt by many residents. There were reports of shaking in the Guatemalan countryside and in El Salvador as well.

Civil protection officials in the two countries says so far there are no reports of injuries or damage, but authorities are still checking.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100118/LT.Guatemala.Earthquake/?CID=NET_Newshero

I just looked up "Plate Tectonics" on Wikipedia - - It turns out that there's a relatively small plate in the area called the "Carribean Plate" - It's exactly where you might expect; the Carribean is centered in the middle of it. So Haiti, Guatamala, and Venezuela (which also had a quake one or two days ago) can all be hit by earthquakes. I think it's pretty clear that there must be something going on; some sort of tension being released between the Carribean Plate and another one. (Tne South American plate, it seems to me.)

There's a picture of it here - - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg

I tried posting the pic. itself but it wasn't showing.

Anyway I think that might help explain what the heck is going on lately; at least a little bit.