The 2009 Swan Islands earthquake occurred on May 28 at with a
moment magnitude of 7.3 and a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). The
epicenter was located in the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...
, northeast of the island of
Roatán, 19 miles northeast of Port Royal, Isla de Bahias, 15 miles northwest of Isla Barbaretta, and north-northeast of
La Ceiba.
Three aftershocks followed the earthquake within magnitude 4 range.
Earthquake
The earthquake occurred at a depth of around on a
transform fault
A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault (geology), fault along a plate boundary where the motion (physics), motion is predominantly Horizontal plane, horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either an ...
zone known as the
Swan Islands Transform Fault on the southern margin of the
Cayman Trough. It was a result of left-lateral
strike-slip faulting. The Swan Island Transform Fault forms part of the
tectonic
Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.
These processes ...
boundary between the
North American plate and the
Caribbean plate, and continues onshore as the
Motagua Fault and the
Chixoy-Polochic Fault.
The 30-second offshore quake was felt in
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
,
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
,
Belize
Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
, and as far as
Cancún in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. It was also felt in parts of
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
,
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
,
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, and the
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
.
Analysis of
geodetic and seismic data indicated that up to 1 meter of slip occurred across a 250-km-long
fault rupture. Although the epicenter was located far off the coast of Central America, the long rupture contributed to severe damage in Honduras. The earthquake ruptured a segment of plate boundary immediately east of the
1976 earthquake rupture on the Motagua Fault.
Tsunami
A tsunami was observed with heights of in
Motagua River,
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
.
Damage
The earthquake caused at least seven fatalities, 40 injuries, and more than 130 collapsed or damaged buildings across northern Honduras.
Two important bridges and a number of levees and port terminals were also seriously damaged.
[Belarbi, A., Luna, R., Applegate, K., Calderon, H., Rivera, O., Lopez, L.A. and Rodriguez, R., 2009]
The M7.3 Honduras Earthquake of May 28, 2009
EERI Special Earthquake Report, 1–4 In the Guatemalan department of
Izabal, 35 buildings were destroyed and 80 were damaged. In Belize, at least 5 buildings were also destroyed and 25 were damaged. In Roatan, one home was damaged and one injury occurred.
The earthquake caused an estimated $37 million worth of damage, and electricity, Internet and telephone connections were cut throughout the majority of Honduras.
A
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
watch was put into effect by the
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize and was discontinued 90 minutes after the earthquake occurred.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 2009
*
2018 Swan Islands earthquake
References
Further reading
*
External links
The Magnitude 7.3 Honduras Earthquake May 28, 2009– ExploringEarth
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Honduras Earthquake
Earthquakes in Central America
Natural disasters in Belize
Earthquakes in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
Earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
Earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
Earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
May 2009 in North America
2009 tsunamis