Narayan AmmachchiA 7.4 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Central America late Monday, reportedly killing one person in El Salvador when an electricity pole fell on him.
There have been no reports of major damage, but several houses in El Salvador are said to have suffered some damage, electricity was cut off in parts of the country and some roads were blocked by stone falls.
The epicenter of the earthquake was in the Pacific Ocean, 170 kilometers (105 miles) south-east of the capital, San Salvador.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning minutes after the earthquake, but has since lifted it. Weather monitors are forecasting thunderstorms over the next two days in several Central American countries, including Nicaragua and Honduras.
Acccording to U.S. seismologists, the earthquake was also felt in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, while aftershocks were felt in Costa Rica.
Tremors are nothing new to El Salvador. In 2001, two powerful earthquakes struck El Salvador a month apart, killing more than 1,150 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Two years ago, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off El Salvador, but caused no major damage.
“The portion of the Middle America subduction zone bordering El Salvador and Nicaragua, locus of the October 14 earthquake, is very seismically active, with events of M 7.3 (2012), M 7.7 (2001), M 7.7 (1992) and M 7.3 (1982) all having occurred within 200 km of the October 14 earthquake in the past 35 years,” said the US Geological Survey.
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