2001 El Salvador Earthquakes - The January 13 Earthquake

The January 13 Earthquake

At 17:33:34 UTC the 7.6 (later estimated to be 7.7 or 7.9) quake struck with the epicenter at 60 miles (100 km) SW of San Miguel, El Salvador (13.04N 88.66W) at a depth of 60 km. At least 944 people were killed, 5,565 injured, 108,261 houses destroyed — with another 169,692 houses damaged — and more than 150,000 buildings were damaged in El Salvador. About 585 of the deaths were caused by large landslides in Santa Tecla and Comasagua. As is often the case after earthquakes in El Salvador, landslides wreaked significant damage. Estimation of the number of slides is difficult because individual scarps conjoin. The total has been reported as high as 16,000, though it is unclear how this figure was arrived at. Damage and injuries occurred in every department of El Salvador, particularly the departments of La Libertad and Usulután. Eight people were killed in Guatemala. The tremor was felt from Mexico City to Colombia. An aftershock measuring 5.7 magnitude was felt on January 15, an event not widely reported outside the country until after the February quake, which initially was assessed by the USGS at 5.7 magnitude as well.

As of February 2, 2001, more than 2,500 aftershocks had hit El Salvador, leading to additional damage and terrorizing the inhabitants. Clean water and sanitation became a matter of grave concern in many areas due to the earthquake's destruction of some $7 million to municipal drinking water systems, and tens of thousands of people were living outdoors in spite of the approaching rainy season (invierno). Government and public health organizations warned of the possible spread of disease as desperate people began to scavenge debris piles — some containing severed human limbs — looking for items they could pawn to purchase needed food and other commodities.