Earthquakes and Seismic Hazards in Central America

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The high levels of seismicity and thus seismic hazard in Central America are evident from the regular occurrence of large earthquakes. The steadily increasing levels of seismic risk in the same region are demonstrated by increasing damage and losses from these earthquakes, connected in general to increasing urbanization and infrastructure complexity. As such Central America constitutes one of the most important regions to focus on under the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), and there is now a substantial number of projects and programs in the region under IDNDR auspices. In this note we will describe some of the activities within and results from one of these projects, namely “Reduction of Natural Disaster in Central America, Earthquake Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation.” Building on a parallel Swedish effort, this project was set up in 1991 between Norway and the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa...