Public tests of an earthquake early-warning system are currently taking place in Nicaragua. The tests are latest steps in a collaborative initiative to build a warning system for four countries in the region.
The project, known as Alerta Temprana de Terremotos en América Central (ATTAC), was presented at the Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting. It is a collaboration between the national seismic networks in Guatemala (INSIVUMEH), El Salvador (MARN), Nicaragua (INETER) and Costa Rica (OVSICORI-UNA) and the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zürich, with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Central America is one of the highest-risk areas in the world for earthquakes due to being a large subduction zone.
In the past 24 hours, the area was shaken by five quakes of magnitude 4.0 or above, 26 quakes between 3.0 and 4.0, and 31 quakes between 2.0 and 3.0. One of them, of a magnitude of 6.7, struck off the cost of Nicaragua...