The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake at a depth of 25.3 km, about 58 km off the coast of the town of Masachapa in Managua Department, Nicaragua, slightly after 1.40 am local time (slightly after 7.40 am GMT) on Thursday 21 April 2022. There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, though it was felt across Nicaragua as well as in parts of El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica.
Nicaragua is located on the southern part of the Caribbean Plate, close to its boundary with the Cocos Plate, which underlies part of the east Pacific. The Cocos Plate is being pushed northwards by expansion of the crust along the East Pacific Rise, and is subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle American Trench, which runs parallel to the south coast of Central America, passing under the peninsula as it sinks into the Earth's interior. This is not a smooth process, the plates tend to stick together, breaking apart again once the pressure from the northward movement of the Cocos Plate builds up to much, triggering Earthquakes.
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