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January 2001 El Salvador earthquake

Coordinates: 13°02′56″N 88°39′36″W / 13.049°N 88.660°W / 13.049; -88.660
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January 2001 El Salvador earthquake
USGS ShakeMap
January 2001 El Salvador earthquake is located in Central America
January 2001 El Salvador earthquake
January 2001 El Salvador earthquake is located in El Salvador
January 2001 El Salvador earthquake
UTC time2001-01-13 17:33:32
ISC event1763440
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateJanuary 13, 2001 (2001-01-13)
Local time11:33:32 CTZ (UTC-6)
Duration20 seconds
MagnitudeMw 7.7
Depth60 km (37 mi)[1][2]
Epicenter13°02′56″N 88°39′36″W / 13.049°N 88.660°W / 13.049; -88.660
TypeNormal
Areas affectedEl Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica
Total damageUS$1.25 billion ($2.22 billion in 2024, adjusted for inflation)
Max. intensityMMI VIII (Severe)
Peak acceleration0.82 g
Landslides≥16,000
Aftershocks3,502 ≥Mw 2.5 (as of 13/02/2001)[3]
Strongest: Mw 6.1 on 28 February[4]
Casualties952 fatalities, 5,565 injuries, 193 missing[1][5]

On 13 January 2001, at 11:33 CTZ (17:33 UTC), a Mw  7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Usulután Department, El Salvador, at a depth of 60 km (37 mi).[1] At least 952 people were killed; 944 in El Salvador and 8 in Guatemala, over 5,500 were injured and nearly 200 were left missing due to the earthquake; every single department in the country reported casualties and severe damage,[5] and damage from the earthquake was reported in five countries throughout Central America.[6]

Tectonic setting

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El Salvador lies above the convergent boundary where oceanic crust of the Cocos plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean plate at rate of about 72 mm per year along the Middle America Trench. This boundary is associated with earthquakes resulting from movement on the plate interface itself, such as the Mw 7.7 1992 Nicaragua earthquake, and from faulting within both the overriding Caribbean plate and the subducting Cocos plate, such as the 1982 El Salvador earthquake.[1][7]

Earthquake

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The January 13 earthquake was a result of normal faulting within the subducting Cocos plate as shown by the hypocentral depth and published focal mechanisms. Of the two possible fault planes indicated, analysis of observed seismic waves supports the solution with a fault plane dipping moderately to the northeast.[1][7] At least 3,502 aftershocks were detected by 13 February,[3] with 108 aftershocks above Mw 4.0 recorded by the USGS by the end of July; the largest aftershock was a Mw 6.1 event at 18:50 on 28 January.[4]

According to a finite fault model released by the USGS, the earthquake rupture extended over 160 km (99 mi) by 80 km (50 mi), reaching the departments of Usulután, San Vicente, San Vicente, La Libertad, La Paz, Cuscatlán and San Salvador. The zone of the largest slip occurred south-southwest of the hypocenter, where up to 5.4905 m (18.013 ft) of slip was produced. Another zone of slip occurred southeast of Lake Ilopango, producing 1.423 m (4.67 ft) of slip. The entire rupture process took nearly 20 seconds with the greatest phase of seismic moment release occurring about 10 seconds after initiation.[1]

The USGS assigned a maximum intensity of VIII (Severe) for the earthquake, estimating that almost the entirety of El Salvador was exposed to shaking levels exceeding VI (Strong). A USGS seismic installation at La Libertad recorded 0.8188 g in ground acceleration (pga) and 53.2 cm/s (20.9 in/s) in ground velocity.[1] Shaking levels of MMI VI-VII (Strong-Very Strong) were also estimated in parts of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua closest to the epicenter.[8] Shaking was felt as far away as Mexico City and Colombia.[1]

As is often the case after earthquakes in El Salvador, landslides were widespread. The number of slides is difficult to estimate because individual scarps conjoin.[9] The total has been reported as high as 16,000, though it is unclear how this figure was provided.[10]

Impact

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At least 944 people were killed, 5,565 others were injured, 193 were missing, 1,364,160 were affected, 108,261 houses collapsed, 169,692 others, 1,155 public buildings, 405 churches, 94 health centers and 43 docks were damaged throughout El Salvador.[5][11] In La Libertad Department alone, 685 deaths occurred,[5] including 585 from large landslides in Santa Tecla and Comasagua, which buried between 200 and 500 homes.[6] Additionally, there were 48 deaths in Sonsonate, 47 in Santa Ana, 44 in La Paz, 29 in San Vicente, 27 in Usulután, 24 in San Salvador, 20 in Cuscatlán, 19 in San Miguel and 1 in La Unión.[5] Many roads and highways were damaged, cutting off access to several affected areas.[12] In San Salvador, 10,372 homes collapsed and 12,836 suffered damage; additionally, 20 hospitals were damaged, two of them seriously and fires were reported in the city.[5][12] Several people were killed by the collapse of a church in Santa Ana.[13] Eight people were also killed in Guatemala,[1] where some buildings cracked and power outages occurred.[13] Minor damage was also reported in parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.[6] The earthquake resulted in about US$1.25 billion worth of damages in El Salvador alone,[3] over half of the country's GDP at the time.[14]

Aftermath

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Aftershocks lead to additional damage and panic. Clean water and sanitation became a matter of grave concern in many areas due to the earthquake's destruction of some $7 million to municipal drinking water systems, and tens of thousands of people were living outdoors in spite of the approaching rainy season (Invierno).[15] Government and public health organizations warned of the possible spread of disease as desperate people began to scavenge debris piles – some containing severed human limbs – looking for items they could pawn to purchase needed food and other commodities.[16]

In the days and weeks following the earthquakes, Salvadoran and foreign agencies analysed the factors that had facilitated the destruction the disasters had caused. While Salvadoran government representatives were quick to point out that the destruction had been far less than that of the 1986 earthquakes,[17] outside researchers critiqued shortcomings in preparedness and in policies toward land development that had permitted massive deforestation in the Santa Tecla area. Mexican seismologists invited by the Salvadoran government summarized their observations this way:

A landslide in the Las Colinas neighborhood of Santa Tecla

The construction equipment of the Ministry of Public Works was thinly stretched over hundreds of earth slumps and seemed inadequate to the task. ... The many homeless were not much in evidence; in the countryside they had been housed in temporary huts under the supervision of the armed forces, or with relatives. No homeless people were seen in the streets of San Salvador, presumably because the middle class had sustained the brunt of the damage. There was a palpable desire in the capital to forget the earthquake drama as quickly as possible.

This may be the wrong time to forget. ...According to some press reports, the developers at Las Colinas had been authorized to proceed in spite of existing zoning regulations designed to prevent residential developments on the slopes. The location was a desirable one because the Santa Tecla area was relatively safe from guerrilla operations. After pacification the pressure from developers subsided as there seems to be plenty of available land in the valley; but there is a definite need for setting up enforceable zoning regulations in order to protect the hillsides from future deforestation and encroachment by developers. ...

The 2001 earthquake did not approach the level of severity of some previous earthquakes, yet it wiped out the equivalent of half the annual gross national income. A small investment in preparedness would pay off handsomely.

— Cinna Lomnitz and Sergio Rodríguez Elizararrás[18]
A man walks past the rubble of multiple collapsed homes

The government's response to the earthquakes was critiqued from different sides, with some criticizing the legislature for not approving the full amount of emergency funding urged by President Flores,[16] and others condemning what they saw as the ARENA government's contributions to the devastation. The Nicaragua-based magazine Envío argued that the conservative government's pro-business stance had fostered aggressive levels of land development, coupled with high poverty rates that forced poor rural residents to make do with inadequate but cheap building materials, asserting: "Totaling up these factors makes it clear that the consequences of a natural phenomenon like an earthquake cannot be described as 'natural' ... Describing the January 13 earthquake as a 'natural disaster' is not only irresponsible, but also a declaration of future impotence. It assumes fatalistic acceptance that no natural phenomena can be prevented and that all one can do is respond to emergencies as they arise and try to rehabilitate and reconstruct what has been destroyed." The magazine further critiqued the government's optimism about economic recovery in the aftermath of the first quake as an "insulting" minimization of the tragedy caused across the country and as an attempt to shore up the dollarization campaign that had been the focus of political attention up until the quakes.[19]

Exactly one month after the mainshock there was another destructive earthquake, which occurred on an entirely different fault within the overriding Caribbean plate, leading to a further 315 deaths.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i ANSS. "M 7.7 - 28 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador 2001". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  2. ^ National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Science Question of the Week" Archived 2008-05-11 at the Wayback Machine (comparing January 2001 quakes in India and El Salvador), NASA.gov, February 8, 2001. NASA estimates the epicenter depth at 39 km.
  3. ^ a b c "El Salvador: cronología de una tierra danzarina". bvs.edu.sv (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b ANSS. "Search results". Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Consolidado Final de Afectaciones – Terremoto El Salvador 13 de Enero de 2001" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c IFRC (14 January 2001). "Central America/El Salvador: Earthquake Preliminary Appeal 02/2001". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Bommer, J. J.; Benito, M. B.; Ciudad-Real, M.; Lemoine, A.; López-Menjívar, M. A.; Madariaga, R.; Mankelow, J.; Méndez De Hasbun, P.; Murphy, W.; Nieto-Lovo, M.; Rodríguez-Pineda, C. E.; Rosa, H. (2002), "The El Salvador earthquakes of January and February 2001: Context, characteristics and implications for seismic risk" (PDF), Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 22 (5): 389–418, Bibcode:2002SDEE...22..389B, doi:10.1016/S0267-7261(02)00024-6, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-08
  8. ^ ANSS. "M 7.7 - 28 km SSW of Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador – ShakeMap 2001". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  9. ^ Le Val Lund and Carl Sepponen, ed. (2002). Lifeline Performance of El Salvador Earthquakes of January 13 and February 13, 2001. Reston, VA: ASCE, TCLEE. ISBN 9780784406625. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12.
  10. ^ Le Val Lund and Carl Sepponen, ed. (2002). Lifeline Performance of El Salvador Earthquakes of January 13 and February 13, 2001. Reston, VA: ASCE, TCLEE. ISBN 9780784406625. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12.
  11. ^ Government of El Salvador (14 January 2015). "A 14 años del terremoto del 13 de enero de 2001" (in Spanish). ReliefWeb. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  12. ^ a b ACT Alliance (14 January 2001). "ACT Alert El Salvador & Guatemala: More than 100 killed in earthquake". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  13. ^ a b OCHA (13 January 2001). "Central America - Earthquake OCHA Situation Report No. 1". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  14. ^ IFRC (24 January 2001). "El Salvador: Earthquake Appeal No: 02/2001". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  15. ^ Christian Aid. "El Salvador Earthquake: Emergency Update 02 Feb 2001" (press release), on ReliefWeb.int, February 2, 2001.
  16. ^ a b CNN. "Poor sanitation fuels disease fears in aftermath of Salvador quake," Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine CNN.com, January 20, 2001.
  17. ^ Ambassador Rene Leon, interviewed by Ray Suarez. "Salvadoran Earthquake," OnlineNewsHour, January 15, 2001.
  18. ^ Cinna Lomnitz and Sergio Rodríguez Elizararrás, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. "El Salvador 2001: Earthquake disaster and disaster preparedness in a tropical volcanic environment," paper submitted to Seismological Research Letters.
  19. ^ Ismael Moreno. "Dollarization and the Earthquake: Two Manmade Disasters," Revista Envío, January 2001.
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Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.

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