Orange earthquake alert (6M,depth:35.3km) in Guatemala (Antigua) 29/7 12:22UTC, Pop100km:2m www.gdacs.org - JRC

By Newsroom America Feeds at 29 Jul 2012

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System

Orange Earthquake Alert in Guatemala Summary

On 7/29/2012 12:22:15 PM UTC (about 06:12h local time) an earthquake of magnitude 6 occurred in the highly populated region of Offshore Guatemala in Guatemala. The nearest populated places are: [None].

Potentially affected critical infrastructure:

Nuclear plants: [None] Hydrodams: [None] Airports: [None] Ports: [None]

Based on an automated impact model, this earthquake, which occurred in a region with medium vulnerability to natural disasters, has potentially a medium humanitarian impact.

Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an expert.

Event Date Univ. Time: Sun, 7/29/2012 12:22 UTC European Time of the event: Sun, 7/29/2012 14:22 CEST (Brussels, Paris, Rome) East America Time of the event: Sun, 7/29/2012 07:22 EST (New York, Washington) West America Time of the event: Sun, 7/29/2012 04:22 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles) East Asia Time of the event: Sun, 7/29/2012 21:22 JTI (Tokyo) This email report was automatically created by a computer at: 7/29/2012 12:42:01 PM UTC (19 minutes after the event)

See the GDACS website for live news coverage (including OCHA Situation Reports), the full earthquake report .

For information on emergency response, please consult the GDACS Virtual OSOCC.

Earthquake Event Characteristics Source: World Data Centre for Seismology, Denver (NEIC) M Magnitude: 6 M Depth: 35.3 km Location (Lat/Long): 14.3259 | -92.3523 Country: Guatemala Province: Region: Offshore Guatemala UTC/GMT (Greenwich time): 7/29/2012 12:22:15 PM Estimated local solar time: 7/29/2012 6:12:50 AM

Population Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 5x3.5 decimal degrees (approx. 550x400km2).

Earthquake Impact Details Potentially affected People Population Data Radius (km) Population Density (people/km?) 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 0 0 10 0 0 20 0 0 50 163878 20 100 0 200 0

The population in the area of this earthquake is 20 people/km?.

The earthquake occurred at 6h local time. At this time a day, more people are at work and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing office buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.

Resilience and Vulnerability

Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.

Guatemala has a GDP per capita of 1545 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the low level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of low resilience.

Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes Guatemala a medium vulnerability.

ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for Guatemala Overall situation Human Development Human Poverty Exposure to Major Disasters Natural Disasters Conflicts Humanitarian effects of population movement Refugees and IDPs Health of children under five Undernourishment Mortality rates Other vulnerability factors Access to health care Prevalence of HIV, TBC and malaria Gender-specific Human Development Gini Index Source ECHO
Key: Bad - Medium - Good - No data Secondary effects

Probability of secondary effects:

Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is [unknown]% and the maximum altitude is [unknown] m. Since this is a unknown slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is unknown. Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological conditions. Nuclear power plants: There are no nuclear facilities nearby the epicenter. Hydrodams: There are no hydrodam facilities nearby the epicenter.
Disclaimer

While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.

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