List of earthquakes in Guatemala


Earthquakes are relatively frequent occurrences in Guatemala. The country lies in a major fault zone known as the Motagua and Chixoy-Polochic fault complex, which cuts across Guatemala and forms the tectonic boundary between the Caribbean plate and the North American plate. In addition, along Guatemala's western coast line, the Cocos plate pushes against the Caribbean plate, forming a subduction zone known as the Middle America Trench located approximately 50 km off Guatemala's Pacific coast. This subduction zone led to the formation of the Central America Volcanic Arc, and is an important source of offshore earthquakes. Both these major tectonic processes have generated deformations within the Caribbean plate and produced secondary fault zones, like the Mixco, Jalpatagua, and Santa Catarina Pinula faults.
The most destructive earthquake in recent Guatemalan history was the 1976 quake with a magnitude of 7.5 Mw and a hypocenter depth of just 5 km. This shallow-focus earthquake, originating from the Motagua Fault, caused 23,000 fatalities, leaving 76,000 injured and causing widespread material damage. Surprisingly, the 7.9 Mw earthquake of 1942, though higher in magnitude, was much less destructive, in part because of its substantially deeper hypocenter depth of 60 km.
A number of earthquakes with low magnitudes caused major damage in very localized areas, which may in part be explained by their relatively shallow depth. This was the case with the 1985 Uspantán earthquake of 5.0 Mw with a depth of 5 km, which destroyed most buildings in the town of Uspantán, but caused little or no damage in the rest of the country.

Earthquakes

Guatemala is in constant earthquake activity. However, there are some earthquakes that are more notable due to the damage they've caused. Notable earthquakes in recent Guatemalan history include the following:
DateEventLocationMMIDeathsNotes-
1717-09-291717 Guatemala earthquakeAntigua Guatemala7.4 MiIX-
17511751 Guatemala earthquakeAntigua GuatemalaIX
1765-10-241765 Guatemala earthquakeOstuncalco, Quetzaltenango7.6–8.2 MiVIIDuration of shaking reported at 7–8 minutes.-
1773-07-291773 Guatemala earthquakeAntigua Guatemala7.5 MwVII–VIII500–600Severe damage in Antigua Guatemala and left most of the city in rubble.-
1816-07-221816 Guatemala earthquakeAlta Verapaz7.5 MwIX23see also Chixoy-Polochic Fault-
1902-04-181902 Guatemala earthquakeQuetzaltenango, Guatemala City7.5 MwIX800–2,000see also Santa María volcano eruption-
1914-03-081913 Guatemala earthquakeCuilapa5.0 Ms60Destroyed the town of Cuilapa-
1917-12-261917 Guatemala earthquakeAntigua Guatemala, Guatemala City5.6 MwVII–IX250-
1918-01-041918 Guatemala earthquakeGuatemala City6.0 MwVI-
1942-07-061942 Guatemala earthquakeEscuintla7.7 MwIX38Landslides.-
1959-02-201959 Guatemala earthquakeIxcán-
1976-02-041976 Guatemala earthquakeGuatemala City7.5 MwIX23,000Extreme damage,
see also Motagua Fault		-
1976-03-12March 1976 Guatemala earthquakeChimaltenango5.1 MwVII4Aftershock.-
1978-07-291978 Patzún earthquakePatzún4.5 Ms17-
1979-10-271979 Guatemala earthquakeChimaltenango6.8 Mw4-
1985-10-111985 Guatemala earthquakeUspantán5.0 MwVIIMajor damage in Uspantán-
1988-11-031988 Guatemala earthquakeSan Vicente Pacaya6.0 MwVI5-
1991-09-111991 Guatemala earthquakePochuta5.3 MwVII25Major damage in San Miguel Pochuta-
1993-09-101993 Chiapas earthquakeSan Marcos7.2 Mw1Landslide/Rockslide.-
1995-12-191995 Guatemala earthquakeTucurú5.3 MwIV1-
1998-01-101998 Guatemala earthquakeSanto Domingo Suchitepéquez6.6 MwVI–VIIIBuildings damaged in Quezaltenango and San Marcos-
2001-01-13January 2001 El Salvador earthquakeSan Miguel7.7 MwVIII8Epicenter in San Miguel, El Salvador-
2011-09-192011 Cuilapa earthquakeCuilapa5.6 MwVI1-
2012-11-072012 Guatemala earthquakeRetalhuleu7.4 MwVII39Heavy damage in San Marcos-
2013-09-072013 Guatemala earthquakeQuetzaltenango6.7 MwVI1-
2014-07-072014 Mexico–Guatemala earthquakeAntigua Guatemala6.9 MwVIII5-
2017-06-142017 Guatemala earthquakeSan Marcos6.9 MwVI5Landslide-

MM = Intensity on the Modified Mercalli scale