Map prepared by U.S. Geological SurveyNational Earthquake Information Center28 May 2009Map not approved for release by Director USGS

EARTHQUAKE SUMMARY MAPU.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORU.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

DISCLAIMERBase map data, such as place names and politicalboundaries, are the best available but may not be current or may contain inaccuracies and thereforeshould not be regarded as having official significance.

1902

1902

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19281928 1931

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19761978

1983

1991

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1950

Coban

El ProgresoChiquimulaSolola

SantaRosa JuticalpaChimaltenango

Jalapa GraciasAntigua GuatemalaRetalhuleuMazatenango ComayaguaNueva

OcotepequeLa EsperanzaLa Paz

JutiapaCuilapaChalatenango Yuscaran

AhuachapanSonsonate

SanFrancisco GoteraSan

Vicente OcotalNacaomeSomotoLa Union

JinotegaEsteli

Boaco

Juigalpa Bluefields

JinotepeRivas

Liberia

Alajuela

Corozal

Heredia

PuertoLimon

Puntarenas Cartago El PorvenirBocasdel Toro

Penonome La Palma

Cojutepeque

SanAndres

SanCarlos

NuevaGerona

GeorgeTown

FalmouthLucea

Usulutan

PortMaria

Savanna La MarPortAntonioOrange

WalkMandevilleBlack

River May Pen PortMorantBelize

El CayoBelmopan

StannCreekTown

Flores

RoatanPuntaGorda

TrujilloPuertoBarrios

Huehuetenango PuertoLempiraSalama Yoro

ZacapaSan

Marcos SantaBarbara

SanctiSpiritus

Sincelejo

MonteriaDavid

Veracruz

Leon

Quezaltenango

Matanzas

PinarDel Rio

SantaClara

Tampico Cienfuegos

Guantanamo

Ciego DeAvila

Camaguey VictoriaDe LasTunas Holguin

Manzanillo

SpanishTown

SantiagoDe Cuba

CampecheJalapa

ChetumalMontegoBay

Colon

Villahermosa

Oaxaca TuxtlaGutierrez

La CeibaSan PedroSula

Escuintla

SanMiguel

CholutecaMatagalpa

Chinandega

MasayaGranada

Kingston

Tegucigalpa

Managua

Cartagena

Panama

Merida

Havana

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MIDDLE AMER ICA TRENCH

C A Y M A N T R E N C H

NORTHAMERICA

PLATE

COCOSPLATE

GALAPAGOSPLATE

CARIBBEAN PLATE

PANAMAPLATE

NORTHANDESPLATE

C A R I B B E A N S E A

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Ma

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G a l a p a g o s R i f t

E C U A D O R

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V E N E Z U E L A

C O L O M B I A

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N I C A R A G U A

C O S T AR I C A

H O N D U R A S

B E L I Z E

G U A T E M A L A

E L S A L V A D O R

D O M .R E P U B L I C

H A I T IJ A M A I C A

C U B A

P . R . ( U . S . )

B A H A M A S

G u l f o f M e x i c o

G o l f o d eP a n a m a

N a r e sP l a i n

B e r m u d aR i s e

G u a t e m a l aB a s i n

C o c o s Ri d g e

Ca rneg i e Rid ge

A l b a t r o s sP l a t e a u

C o l o m b i a nB a s i n

V e n e z u e l a nB a s i n

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0° 0°

M7.3 Honduras Earthquake of 28 May 2009

0 250 500125Kilometers

Austin

SantaMartaValledupar

SanFelipe MaracaySan Jose

San JuanDe LosMorros

SanCarlos

Colon Sincelejo GuanareBarinasMeridaDavid

San Fernadode Apure

Tlaxcala

CucutaSanCristobal

Bucaramanga

TunjaManizalesPereira Armenia

Ibague VillavicencioNeiva

Popayan

Mobile

Galveston

BatonRouge Tallahassee

Veracruz

Tampa

Saltillo NassauDurango Ciudad

Victoria

MatanzasZacatecas Pinar

Del Rio SantaClaraTampicoSan Luis

Potosi CienfuegosSancti

Spiritus

Aguascalientes Ciego De AvilaTepic CamagueyGuanajuato

VictoriaDe LasTunas

HolguinQueretaro GuantanamoPachucaSantiagoDe Cuba

Campeche PuertoPlataMorelia MaoJalapa

Santiago

Monteria

Colima La VegaCuernavaca San JuanChetumal Montego

Bay La RomanaSanCristobal

San JuanBarahona Mayaguez

PonceSpanishTown

VillahermosaChilpancingoDe Los Bravo

OaxacaAcapulco Tuxtla

GutierrezLa CeibaSan Pedro

SulaQuezaltenango

EscuintlaSanta

AnaNueva San SalvadorSan

MiguelCholutecaMatagalpa

ChinandegaLeon WillemstadMasaya Granada Coro

Toluca

JacksonvilleNewOrleansHoustonSan

Antonio

MiamiMonterrey

Havana

MeridaGuadalajara

Puebla Port-au-PrinceKingston

Guatemala

ManaguaMaracaibo CaracasCartagena

Panama

Medellin

CaliBogota

Tegucigalpa

70°

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DATA SOURCESEARTHQUAKES AND SEISMIC HAZARD USGS, National Earthquake Information Center NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center IASPEI, Centennial Catalog (1900 - 1999) and extensions (Engdahl and Villaseñor, 2002) HDF (unpublished earthquake catalog) (Engdahl, 2003) Global Seismic Hazard Assessment ProgramPLATE TECTONICS AND FAULT MODEL PB2002 (Bird, 2003) Finite Fault Model, Chen Ji, UC Santa Barbara (2007)BASE MAP NIMA and ESRI, Digital Chart of the World USGS, EROS Data Center NOAA GEBCO and GLOBE Elevation Models

0 500 1,000 1,500250Kilometers

Scale

Prepared in cooperation

with the Global Seismographic

Network

Tectonic Setting

Seismic Hazard

Epicentral Region

TECTONIC SUMMARYThe location and focal mechanism of the Honduras earthquake of May 28, 2009,imply that the shock occurred as the result of left-lateral strike-slip faulting onthe Swan Islands Transform Fault, a segment of the boundary between the NorthAmerica and Caribbean plates. In this region the plate boundary accommodatesabout 20 mm/y slip.Previous strong earthquakes along the North America/Caribbean plate boundaryinclude the destructive Guatemala earthquake of February 4, 1976, M 7.5, whichproduced more than 23,000 fatalities. The 1976 earthquake occurred on theMotagua fault, a segment of the plate boundary that lies in southern Guatemala,several hundred kilometers southwest of the plate boundary that ruptured in theMay 28, 2009 shock.

Seismic hazard is expressed as peakground acceleration (PGA) on firmrock, in meters/sec², expected to beexceeded in a 50-yr period with aprobability of 10 percent.

EXPLANATIONMag ≥ 7.0

0 - 69 km70 - 299300 - 600

Plate BoundariesSubductionTransformDivergent

ConvergentActive Volcanoes

RELATIVE PLATE MOTIONSOverwelming the tectonics in this area is theconvergence of the Cocos and Caribbean Plates,with the Cocus plate subducting under the crustalCaribbean Plate at about 75 mm/yr. In the regionof this earthquake, earthquakes define theboundary between the North American andCaribbean Plates, which move past each other atabout 20 mm/yr.

0 500 1,000 1,500250Kilometers

Scale

REFERENCESBird, P., 2003, An updated digital model of plate boundaries: Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., v. 4, no. 3, pp. 1027- 80.Engdahl, E.R. and Villaseñor, A., 2002, Global Seismicity: 1900 - 1999, chap. 41 of Lee, W.H.K., and others,eds., International Earthquake and Engineering Seismology, Part A: New York, N.Y., Elsevier Academeic Press, 932 p.Engdahl, E.R., Van der Hilst, R.D., and Buland, R.P., 1998, Global teleseismic earthquake relocation with improved trav- el times and procedures for depth determination: Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer., v. 88, p. 722-743.

1:7,086,244Scale

Significant Earthquakes Mag >= 7.1

Year Mon Day Time Lat Long Dep Mag1900 06 21 2052 10.000 -85.500 0 7.21902 04 19 0223 14.000 -91.000 0 7.51902 09 23 2018 16.000 -93.000 0 7.81904 12 20 0544 8.500 -83.000 0 7.21907 12 30 0526 12.100 -86.300 0 7.21914 03 30 0041 17.000 -92.000 150 7.21915 09 07 0120 14.000 -89.000 80 7.41916 02 27 2020 12.000 -90.000 0 7.31916 04 24 0802 11.000 -85.000 0 7.21917 02 20 1929 19.500 -78.500 0 7.21917 12 29 2250 15.000 -97.000 0 7.71921 02 04 0822 15.411 -90.780 35 7.41921 03 28 0749 13.356 -87.361 35 7.21928 03 22 0417 16.127 -96.505 35 7.51928 06 17 0319 16.028 -97.036 35 7.71928 10 09 0301 16.229 -97.550 35 7.51931 01 15 0150 16.053 -96.614 35 7.81935 12 14 2205 14.718 -92.484 35 7.21937 07 26 0347 18.523 -95.878 35 7.21939 12 21 2054 9.986 -84.546 35 7.21941 12 05 2047 8.752 -83.158 35 7.31942 08 06 2337 13.780 -90.913 35 7.71950 10 05 1609 11.000 -85.000 0 7.81950 10 23 1613 14.500 -91.500 0 7.51950 12 14 1415 17.000 -97.500 0 7.31956 10 24 1442 11.619 -86.436 35 7.21965 08 23 1946 16.178 -95.846 10.5 7.41968 08 02 1406 16.494 -97.771 49.8 7.31970 04 29 1401 14.461 -92.760 50.9 7.31973 08 28 0950 18.233 -96.608 80.7 7.31976 02 04 0901 15.297 -89.145 12.1 7.51978 11 29 1952 16.012 -96.602 24.5 7.81982 06 19 0621 13.337 -89.312 73.1 7.31983 04 03 0250 8.777 -83.032 25 7.51990 03 25 1322 9.948 -84.757 22 7.31991 04 22 2156 9.675 -83.072 12.3 7.61992 09 02 0016 11.766 -87.352 45 7.71993 09 10 1912 14.702 -92.656 34 7.21995 10 21 0238 16.842 -93.434 159 7.21999 09 30 1631 16.046 -96.912 40 7.52001 01 13 1733 13.038 -88.661 38 7.72009 05 28 0824 16.729 -86.212 10 7.1

Peak Ground Acceleration in m/sec**2

.2 .4 .8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8

EPICENTRAL REGION

1:20,000,000

1:20,000,000

EPICENTRAL REGION

Note on earthquakes: From 1900 - 1963, earthquakes shown are fromCentennial Catalog, magnitudes greater than 5.5. From 1964 - 2002,earthquakes are from HDF catalog, magnitudes greater than 4.5. From2003 to present, earthquakes are from NEIC, magnitudes greater than 4.5.

A'

Offshore Honduras 28 May 2009 8:24:45 UTC 16.73° N., 86.209° W.Depth 10 kmMw = 7.3 (USGS)Earthquake motion is left lateral strike slip on a fault trending N 65 E, dipping 69 south.At least 6 people killed, 40 injured and more than 130 buildingsdamaged or destroyed in northern Honduras. The central span of a major bridge at El Progreso was destroyed. At least 5 buildings destroyed and 25 damaged in Belize. Felt in much of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Also felt in the Cayman Islands and in parts of Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. Seiches were reported in swimming pools at La Ceiba and Roatan and ground cracks and possible liquefaction was observed at Monkey River, Belize.

EXPLANATIONEarthquake Magnitude

5.50 - 5.996.00 - 6.997.00 - 7.998.00 - 8.99

9.00 - 9.99

Earthquake Depth0 - 6970 - 299300 - 700