The 1976 Guatemala earthquake struck on February 4 at with a moment magnitude of 7.5. The shock was centered on the

Motagua Fault The Motagua Fault (also, Motagua Fault Zone) is a major, active left lateral-moving transform fault which cuts across Guatemala. It forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. It is conside ...

, about 160 km northeast of

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, ne ...

at a depth of near the town of

Los Amates Los Amates is a municipality in the Izabal department of Guatemala. The population is about 61,000. The mayor is currently Marco Tulio Ramirez Estrada. Los Amates is located on the Motagua River, from the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Quirigu ...

in the department of Izabal. Cities throughout the country suffered damage, and most

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

type houses in the outlying areas of Guatemala City were destroyed. The earthquake struck during the early morning (at 3:01 am, local time) when most people were asleep. This contributed to the high death toll of 23,000. Approximately 76,000 were injured, and many thousands left

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. Some of the areas affected went without

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

and communications for days. The main shock was followed by thousands of

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousa ...

s, some of the larger ones causing additional damage and loss of life.

Seismic data

The quake's epicentre was located near the town of

, in the eastern part of the

, a left-lateral

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectoni ...

that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the

North American plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Paci ...

and the

Caribbean plate The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate border ...

. Ground shaking was felt during approximately 39 seconds, and caused visible rupturing over along the Motagua fault, while the inferred length of faulting—based on aftershock registration—was estimated at 100 cm. Average horizontal displacement along the Motagua fault was with a maximum displacement of 300 cm.NOAA database
/ref> Maximum seismic intensity ( MMI IX) was located in the Mixco area, some sections of Guatemala City and in Gualán. A seismic intensity of MM VI covered an area of 33,000 km².

Soil liquefaction Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses Shear strength (soil), strength and stiffness in response to an applied Shear stress, stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other ...

and

sand boil Sand boils or sand volcanoes occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is boiling up from the bed of sand, hence the name. Sand volcano A sand volcano or sand blow is a cone of sand formed by the ...

s were observed in several locations with high seismic intensity. The main quake activated secondary fault zones, including the Mixco fault, located in a densely populated area just north-west of Guatemala City.

Victims and damage

The most heavily affected area covered some 30,000 km², with a population of 2.5 million. Some 23,000 people were reported dead and 77,000 wounded. Approximately 258,000 houses were destroyed, leaving about 1.2 million people homeless. 40% of the national hospital infrastructure was destroyed, while other health facilities also suffered substantial damage.Olcese (e.a.), 1977

International reaction

Immediately after the earthquake, the then president

Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García Brigadier General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García (24 January 1930

invited most of the foreign ambassadors to tour the affected regions by helicopter, which prompted them to quickly ask for help in their home countries. For example, the United States of America rebuilt most of the roads, and Canada and Belgium each rebuilt a village.

Aftershocks

Several aftershocks, ranging from 5.2 to 5.8 caused additional casualties and hampered relief efforts.

Source: Wayerly Person, William Spence, and James W. Dewey. Main event and principal aftershocks from teleseismic data. In: Guatemalan Earthquake of February 4, 1976, A Preliminary Report.

In popular culture

Scenes of the earthquake's aftermath, filmed on February 6, 1976, were featured in the Italian

Mondo film Mondo films are a subgenre of exploitation films and documentary films. Many mondo films are made in a way to resemble a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations. Common traits of mondo films include p ...

Savana violenta ''Savana violenta'' ( en, Violent Savanna), also known as ''This Violent World'' and ''Mondo Violence'', is a 1976 mondo film directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra. The film documents various scenes of graphic behavior in an attempted ex ...

'', directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra.

Image gallery

Image:GuateQuake1976HotelTerminalA.jpg, ''Hotel Terminal'' Image:GuateQuake1976CiudadFoundationFailures.jpg, ''Landslide in

'' Image:GuateQuake1976Ciudad50.jpg, ''Guatemala City centre'' File:Companiadejesus.jpg, Society of Jesus church ruins in 1896. File:La Compania de Jesus.jpg, Jesuit church façade, stabilized in the 21st century. Note the damage to the structure after the 1976 earthquake. File:Señoradelcarmen.jpg, "Nuestra Señora del Carmen" church en 1896. File:Iglesia_del_Carmen_(3746568616).jpg, Same church in 2010, after the 1976 earthquake. File:Recoleccion1875a.jpg, Iglesia de La Recolección in 1875. The only surviving arch was a symbol of Antigua Guatemala ruins for many years. File:LaRecoleccion.Antigua.jpg, La Recolección in 2005. The 1917 and 1976 earthquakes destroyed what was left of the iconic arch. Image:GuateQuake1976BentRailsA.jpg, ''Bent rails in Gualán'' Image:Guatemala1976Earthquake14ct.jpg, ''Motagua Fault in Gualán'' Image:GuateQuake1976Patzicia.jpg, ''

Patzicía Patzicía () is a town, with a population of 21,249 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & tow ...

destroyed'' File:Puente de Agua Caliente - on road to Coban.jpg, ''Puente de Agua Caliente, on the road to Coban''

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

USGS MapGuatemala Earthquake 1976 – photos and personal accounts
* {{Authority control Guatemala Earthquake, 1976

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

1976 Guatemala History of Guatemala February 1976 events in North America