A strong M6.8 earthquake, centered near Puerto San Jose, has struck just off Guatemala’s Pacific coast, causing some minor damage on June 22, 2017.
The earthquake was widely felt across the region, including El Salvador and Mexico. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a tsunami.
One week after a M6.9 earthquake hit the Guatemala-Mexico border, killing at least 5 people, another powerful quake struck the country at a depth of just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) at 6:31 a.m. local time today. It was centered about 39 kilometers (24 miles) southwest of Puerto San José, or 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Escuintla.
The earthquake was strong and long. People went out to the street to protect themselves. Residents in the capital, Guatemala City, also reported feeling the earthquake. A spokesman for CONRED said there are no early reports of injuries.
One of the areas that suffered damage was Antigua Guatemala.
Photos shared by emergency responders Thursday showed damage to the facade of some buildings and debris on some streets of Antigua Guatemala.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales took to Twitter just minutes after the earthquake struck. “Please remain calm and be on alert for possible aftershocks, soon we will give more information,” he said in a tweet.
Guatemala is on the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Guatemala in November 2012, killing at least 39 people.
