1992 Nicaragua earthquake
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The Nicaragua Earthquake of September 2, 1992 was a major earthquake off the coast of this Central American country Nicaragua.
Because of the quake killed at least 116 people, there were many more injured and damages were recorded to Costa Rica. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 Mw, and caused a tsunami that was exceptionally strong for the relatively small Oberflächenwellenmagnitude ..
Tectonics
The earthquake was the first earthquake triggered a tsunami that was recorded by the modern seismological broadband network. The Oberflächenwellenmagnitude was estimated to be 7.2 ms. It is a blind thrust earthquake that occurred in the subduction zone between the Cocos and the North American plate. This zone is active under pressure and deformation, and because sediments are missing on the seabed off Nicaragua, the slip was carried down to the bottom of the trench rupture, which usually large tsunamis occur. This occurrence of subduction at a plate boundary, which is filled with soft subducted sediments, caused a slower than average separation Subduktionserdbeben, while the hypocenter of the earthquake was much shallower than in Subduktionsbeben is common.
Damage and victims
The first quake occurred at 12:16 UTC and was followed by several strong aftershocks. The earthquake was most strongly felt in the departments of Chinandega and León, but was also felt elsewhere in Nicaragua, as in Crucero, Managua and San Marcos, and San José in Costa Rica. The quake was the strongest that has occurred in the state since the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake.
At least 116 people were killed by the impact of the earthquake, most of them sleeping children, another 68 were reported missing and 13,500 more inhabitants of the land were left homeless. On the west coast of Nicaragua at least 1,300 houses and 185 fishing boats were destroyed. The total damage was estimated at 20 to 30 million U.S. dollars.
Augusto César Sandino After the Foundation were the most affected by the impact of the earthquake, the " inhabitants of small, poor communities living on various forms of subsistence farming. Their houses, which were by the sea, were almost completely destroyed. These people have lost all their possessions, poor farmers who grow on poor farmland crops for their basic needs, as well as fishermen, who lost all their fishing equipment, boats, sheds and warehouses. Your already extreme poverty has been further deepened. "
Tsunami
The majority of the victims and the property damage was caused by a tsunami, which ran aground on the west coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was the third tsunami that hit on the same area within six months. The height of the flood tide was found shortly after the earthquake. The tsunami reached a height of up to ten meters, but mostly it varied between three and eight meters. Compared to occur Oberflächenwellenmagnitude the tsunami was disproportionate, and the duration of the earthquake was unusually long with 100 seconds for its size. The moment magnitude was Mw = 7.7 and was greater than that to 20 seconds measured surface wave magnitude ( Ms) of 7; this difference between Ms and Mw is characteristic of so-called tsunami earthquakes. Flood level in Corinto and Puerto Sandino showed a tsunami 61 minutes after the earthquake. In Masachapa the tidal wave was about a mile inland; Masachapa was the most affected by the tsunami larger city.
Disaster Relief
The authorities rendered after the disaster, basic relief efforts. President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro put in her speech to the nation firmly on September 2 that the country did not need international help. Although the Red Cross helped with various operations, but the national armed forces carried out the bulk of the relief efforts. Injured were taken to the hospital by Léon and the Lenin Fonseca Hospital.