Abstract
Historical seismicity studies in Central America have increased since 1980. Currently, there is a well-organized regional digital catalogue database structured according to modern techniques. It contains more than 17 000 earthquakes which occurred between 1520 and 1992. A regional tsunami catalogue is also available. The historical seismicity research included a more complete earthquake documentation obtained from foreign and Central American depositories. New intensity data point estimates and isoseismal maps allows among others, macroseismic magnitude calculations and seismogenic source determinations, for many pre-1900 earthquakes. Future trends in Central America historical seismicity research are discussed.
Highlights
Central America has an important seismic and volcanic activity due to the interaction of several plates
There is a well-organized regional digital catalogue database structured according to modern techniques
In order to define the seismic hazard of this region, a necessary step is to collect seismicity data by means of «earthquake catalogues»
Summary
Central America has an important seismic and volcanic activity due to the interaction of several plates (fig. 1). In order to have a better understanding of the different earthquake sources and its activity rates, historical earthquake information must be included. For this reason, during the last two decades important research efforts have been conducted in historical seismicity. Before 1980 there were some valuable regional and national catalogues, the information they contain was scattered in different reference sources. Since 1980 there has been a remarkable increase in the historical seismicity investigation at regional and local levels, and its results have been partially incorporated in a digital catalogue. In the paragraphs we review the previous work with especial emphasis in the historical seismicity research topic (pre-1900 earthquake studies)
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