1980 Honduras earthquake
The 1980 Honduras earthquake struck just offshore Honduras on August 9 at 05:45 UTC. Two people were killed and many injured. Geology The earthquake's epicenter lay in the Gulf of Honduras, just offshore. Honduras lies just off the triple-junction of the North American, Cocos, and Caribbean tectonic plates to the north. On the other sides it is surrounded by transform faults and trenches created by the movement of these plates. The most seismic activity occurs along the plate boundary between Caribbean and Cocos in a N–E trending Benioff zone, split into two sections, one with a shallow dip, the other with a far more steep decline. The plates are converging by subduction, Cocos under the Caribbean, at a rate of to annually. Within Honduras, there are at least three other major faults–La Ceiba, Guyape, and Aguan–apparently unrelated to plate movement. Damage and casualties The earthquake hit at 05:45 UTC, around 11:47 PM local time. It caused the most damage at Puerto Barrios in Izabal Department, Guatemala, and Puerto Cortes, Honduras, and it killed two people and measured between 6.4 and 6.7 surface wave magnitude. The quake was felt throughout Honduras, Belize, and parts of Guatemala. Damage was recorded at the