The Government of Nicaragua reported this Tuesday a swarm of earthquakes in the department of Jinotega (north), an unusual area, for which the authorities have initiated follow-up work.
The seismic swarm, which has not been reported by the residents, was detected in the northeast of the city of Jinotega, a rural area in northern Nicaragua, according to the country’s vice president, Rosario Murillo, through official media.
The National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention (Sinapred) registered “more than 19 small tremors, the largest magnitude was 2.5 (on the open Richter scale), 4 kilometers deep, 21 kilometers northeast from Jinotega,” Murillo said.
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The Nicaraguan authorities usually give special monitoring to shallow tremors, because they can cause more damage than those of greater depth.
In the case of this swarm detected by the authorities, it has attracted attention due to its location, since it is located in an area where until now the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (Ineter) has not reported the presence of important geological faults.
“These days it is frequent for the spring equinox, it is frequent that there are earthquakes everywhere. There was also an earthquake in Cayenne, French Guiana, magnitude 6.7, today at 10:35 in the morning (16:35 GMT), a tsunami alert, but only for information,” continued Murillo, who is the wife of President Daniel Ortega.
So far the Sinapred and Ineter authorities have not provided details about the swarm.
Nicaragua is a highly seismic country, however, it is not common for it to tremble in the northern part of the country where it is more mountainous. The earthquakes were of low intensity, so they were little perceived by the Jinotegan population.