The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake at a depth of 13 km on the northern shore of Lago de Managua in Nicaragua, slightly before 5.30 pm local time (slightly before 11.30 pm GMT) on Thursday 10 April 2014. This is a large quake in an underdeveloped area, and the United States Geological Survey estimates that it has an 86% chance of having led to at least one fatality. At least 23 people are reported to have been injured, three of them seriously, and over a hundred homes damaged in the town of Nagarote and nearby communities. People have reported feeling the event as far away as southern Honduras.
Residents outside a damaged home in Nagote, Nicaragua, after the 10 April 2014 Earthquake. AP.
Nicaragua is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean Plate, which underlies Central America as well as the Caribbean Sea. To the south the Cocos Plate, which underlies part of the eastern Pacific, is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle American Trench, passing under Central America as it is sinks into the Earth. As it is subducted the Cocos Plate is being partially melted by the heat of the planet's interior, producing liquid magma, which then rises through the overlying plate fueling the volcanoes of Central America. This is not a smooth process, and as the plates frequently stick together, breaking apart again as the pressure builds up, and causing Earthquakes in the process.
The approximate location of the 10 April 2014 Nicaraguan Earthquake. Google Maps.
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