powerful M6.9 Quake strikes near Mexico-Guatemala Border

AIR said “at the least 30 homes have been damaged or destroyed and 50 houses were evacuated inside the location of San Marcos, Guatemala. Landslides, energy outages, and disruptions to communications have additionally been stated within the location. AIR does no longer count on huge insured losses from this event based totally on the confined quantity of pronounced harm up to now and occasional earthquake coverage penetration inside the location.”

The bulletin also stated that the quake “changed into felt strongly in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco. government in Chiapas stated there were no on the spot reviews of main harm. In Mexico city, buildings and light posts swayed, however no harm has yet been reported. The quake became additionally felt in El Salvador. The U.S. Pacific warning middle issued a assertion indicating that there has been no tsunami hazard. it's miles nevertheless in the early aftermath of this event, but, and further reports of damage may additionally nicely are available.”

Dr. Mesut Turel, engineer at AIR worldwide, defined: “The Southern Mexico-Guatemala area is a tectonically active plate boundary place, wherein the Cocos plate subducts northeastward beneath the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate along the center the united states Trench,” “The seventy three-eighty mm/12 months plate convergence on this location outcomes in thrust earthquakes focused along the slab of the Cocos plate, amongst them big importance “megathrust” earthquakes, that are capable of generating tsunamis.”

AIR scientist Dr. Gerald Galgana added: “This particular occasion took place approximately 590 miles (950 km) northwest of a latest M7.6 Nicoya thrust earthquake in Costa Rica in September 2012, and about 310 miles (500 km) southeast of the March 2012 M7.four Oaxaca, Mexico thrust earthquake. The adverse M8 September 1985 Earthquake, which severely broken Mexico town and ended in numerous hundreds of casualties, passed off in that identical vicinity. The subduction procedure in this place is likewise accountable for volcanic hobby along the long line of stratovolcanoes in Guatemala parallel to the middle america trench.”

in keeping with AIR, today, most of the people of residential homes in Mexico are of masonry construction. Masonry buildings generally fall into one in all 3 classifications: reinforced masonry, constrained masonry, and unreinforced masonry. Unreinforced masonry buildings are one of the production types maximum susceptible to shake damage.

business homes in Mexico are commonly of engineered masonry or concrete creation, and are better able to face up to ground movement. In big city areas, such as Mexico town, maximum center- to upper-class families stay in five- to 15-tale tall reinforced concrete industrial dwellings. these homes are typically well designed and constructed with excessive best substances. building codes in Mexico are a few of the maximum complete within the international, however there are not any national codes (every of the greater than 2,four hundred municipalities in Mexico enacts and enforces its own regulations), and code enforcement may be susceptible and architects and contractors frequently do now not absolutely apply building policies.

The main construction type for insured residential and commercial homes in Guatemala is masonry, with timber being the second one maximum main insured production type. inside Guatemala however, there are giant variations in the varieties of building stock and constructing overall performance, largely related to neighborhood economic tiers. city production has a tendency to employ more recent, less susceptible materials than homes in rural environments.

AIR additionally mentioned that the “coastal location closest to the epicenter of this earthquake is rural and sparsely populated. Many homes in rural locations are older; they commonly do no longer adhere to the country’s constructing code and are characterized by poorer seismic performance than cutting-edge buildings. Such systems, even as liable to structural damage from an occasion of today’s value, are less probable to be insured.