Seven temblors jolt Nicaragua over the weekend

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A magnitude-4.9 earthquake was registered on Sunday in the northwestern region of Nicaragua, but no injuries or damages were reported, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER).

The temblor – the seventh in Nicaragua since Friday – occurred at 2:33 p.m., with an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean 176 kilometers northwest of Managua, near the municipality of El Viejo, in Chinandega province.

The quake registered a depth of 15 km, and was due to the movement of Cocos and Caribe tectonic plates, INETER said.

Nicaraguan officials remain on alert for more earthquakes along the Pacific coast.

Civil defense authorities also recommended tourists “to be alert” to audible alarms in case of an earthquake, after other temblors occurred in Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico at the beginning of Easter Holy Week.