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What is Guatemala's seismic risk?

According to the cited documentsMacro and risk

According to INSIVUMEH, Guatemala lies near the junction of three tectonic plates: to the south, a convergent (subduction) boundary between the Caribbean plate and the Cocos plate, which is the subducted plate; in the centre of the country, the contact between the North American and Caribbean plates, a left-lateral transform boundary. The most prominent seismically active faults, the Motagua and Polochic faults, are related to that transform zone; INSIVUMEH lists among the large historical earthquakes those of Jul 22, 1816 (Mw 7.5, Polochic fault) and 4 February 1976 (Mw 7.5, Motagua fault), with a rupture length of approximately 230 km. A 1976 article by George Plafker published in Science (USGS record) attributes the 1976 earthquake mainly to slip on the Motagua fault, part of the great transform fault system that defines the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates, and warns that, because of their proximity to areas of high population density, shallow-focus earthquakes on the Motagua fault system, on the extensional faults of the western Caribbean plate and those associated with volcanism may pose a more serious seismic hazard than the more numerous but generally more distant earthquakes of the subduction zone.

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  • Earthquake of 4 February 1976 (Motagua fault)

    Mw = 7,5; rupture length of 230 km, approximately

    1976INSIVUMEH
  • Earthquake of 22 July 1816 (Polochic fault)

    Mw=7,5

    1816INSIVUMEH

Sources

  • INSIVUMEH

    Actividad sísmica especial para el departamento de Izabal del 25 de septiembre del 2022

    • Earthquake of 4 February 1976 (Motagua fault)
    • Earthquake of 22 July 1816 (Polochic fault)
    geo.insivumeh.gob.gtAccessed Sep 14, 2026Go to the source
  • INSIVUMEH

    Secuencia sísmica en el límite departamental de Guatemala - Sacatepéquez, enero de 2024

    • Earthquake of 4 February 1976 (Motagua fault)
    • Earthquake of 22 July 1816 (Polochic fault)
    geo.insivumeh.gob.gtAccessed Sep 14, 2026Go to the source
  • USGS

    Tectonic aspects of the Guatemala earthquake of 4 February 1976

    usgs.govAccessed Sep 14, 2026Go to the source