Guatemalan Earthquakes

Guatemala is located in a area prone to earthquakes, it is been said that a Big One occurs every 50 years. The department of Peten, where most magnificent Mayan ruins are located is not sismic, and usually there are no earthquakes in that area. This is a list of some of the important events.

Date Intensity Facts about the earthquake
September 10, 1541 n/a Oldest known news printed in the Americas, records the event on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th of September 1941. The event was not an earthquake, but a landslide.
February 18, 1651 n/a Pacaya Volcao Eruption and earthquake
August 27, 1717 n/a Earthquakes and two volcano eruption
July 29, 1773 n/a Known as Santa Marta Earthquakes
1818 n/a Santa Maria Volcano caused this earthquake
April, 18, 1902 7.5 8:23 PM Damages reported are 200 people, a number hard to believe. Most damage were in Quetzaltenango and Solola.
March 8, 1913 n/a 8:55 AM It destroyed Cuilapa in Santa Rosa, reported “a lot” of victims and was very localized.
1917-1918 n/a Series of earthquakes of different intensities.
August 6, 1942 8.3 Damages all over the the bottom half of the country.
February 20, 1959 n/a 6:16 PM, Biggest damages were in Ixcan, El Quiche.
February 4, 1976 7.5 3:03 AM. The deadliest earthquake ever recorded, with official numbers around 25,000 deaths and great economic losses.
October 11, 1985 5.0 This was a very low magnitude earthquake, but it was very superficial and almost completely destroyed the city of Uspantan.
1991 5.3 Pochuta
1995 5.3 Tucuru
1998 5.8 Pacific Ocean
June 13, 2007 6.7 Pacific Ocean
2008 5.7 Pacifi Ocean
2009 6.2 Patzun
2010 5.6 San Mateo Ixtatan

Sources:

http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/geofisica/indice%20sismo.htm

http://blogynuevastecnologias.blogspot.com/2007/08/historia-del-periodismo-universal.html

http://www.saladeprensa.org/art575.htm

http://www.archive.org/stream/laamericacentral01anto/laamericacentral01anto_djvu.txt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_Guatemala