Tsunami warning for Central America lifted

(2nd UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines -A tsunami warning triggered by a major 7.4 magnitude earthquake registered off the coast of El Salvador was cancelled on Monday, August 27.

The Pacific Tsunami Center in Hawaii had issued a tsunami alert for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico.

The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 0437 GMT, was located 111 kilometers (69 miles) south of the city Puerto El Triunfo in El Salvador, according to the US Geological Survey.

Initial alert for Central America

Following the quake the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert, saying that the temblor, which took place at a depth of 54 kilometers (36 miles), had spawned a tsunami.

“Sea level readings confirm that a tsunami was generated,” the center said, pointing out that the threat extended to all Central American nations and Mexico.

It warned that this tsunami may be “destructive along the coastlines of the region.”

According to the center, locations like Cabo San Elena and Puerto Quepos in Costa Rica, Corinto and Puerto Sandino in Nicaragua and Acajutla in El Salvador were among those that faced the danger first.

“Authorities in the region should take appropriate action in response to this possibility,” the center said.

No reports of casualties or damage were immediately available.

Threat dismissed in El Salvador

But in El Salvador, Civil Protection Service Director Jorge Melendez dismissed the tsunami threat.

“There is no tsunami alert,” he told AFP in San Salvador. “The US Geological Survey has recorded a 7.4-point earthquake, but our observatory here recorded just a 5.7-point tremor.”

The earthquake reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.

The initial USGS report put the strength of the quake at 7.4, but it was later revised to 7.3.

In January 2001, El Salvador suffered two consecutive earthquakes that left more than 1,200 dead, a quarter million affected and 57,000 houses destroyed. – Rappler.com, with reports from Agence France-Presse