April 19, 1902 Earthquake: Quezaltenango, San Marcos, Guatemala

On April 18, a considerably stronger earthquake occurred

than on January 18. It lasted about a minute and was felt as far as Mexico City. The greatest destruction occurred at Quesaltenango, San Pedro and Solola. In particular, a church built during the Spanish Conquest collapsed. The coast in the Ocosa region subsided 1 m. Then weak shocks occurred. On September 23, there was another strong earthquake, and on October 23/24, the

Santa Maria volcano, which was thought to be dormant, exploded, forming an enormous new crater. (reference #415)

April 19, 1902, 02:23:30 UTC, 14 N, 91 W, shallow depth, magnitude 8.2. (reference #88)

April 19, 1902, 02:23 UTC, 14 N, 91 W, magnitude 7.5. (reference #2231)

April 19, 1902 in Quetzaltenango, San Marcos, Guatemala, 2000 deaths. (reference #1051)

April 19, 1902, 02:24 UTC, 14.93 N, 91.5 W, magnitude 7.7 MS. (reference #7896)

The Advertiser, Adelaide, South Australia, Thursday 25 December 1902, p. 5. A FLAMING CRATER. HORROR IN GUATEMALA. AN ENTIRE REPUBLIC STRICKEN... On April 18 a terrible earthquake was reported from Quezaltenango, and it was estimated that hundreds of lives had been lost. Since that time the tremors have been continuous throughout the western department, particularly in the region of Santa Maria. (reference #7815)

At 8:25 p.m. of April 18 an earthquake of more than thirty seconds duration affected a large part of Guatemala, eastern Chiapas and western Salvador and Honduras. The intensity of the movement was greatest in western Guatemala, where the second and richest city of the country, Quezaltenango, was completely destroyed, with the loss of about 500 lives. Completely ruined also were Solola, San Marcos and its sister town San Pedro Sacatepequez (more than 200 lives being lost), and the same happened to Retalhuleu and Mazatenango, important towns on the Pacific coast plain, to the south of Quezaltenango. The places before mentioned are situated on the highlands, a little to the north of the great volcanoes.

Besides the cities named, nearly every town and hamlet in the Departamentos of San Marcos, Quezaltenango, Retalhuleu, Suchitepequez and several in Chimaltenango are ruined, and perhaps every one of the many important coffee- and sugar-plantations in the western coast-region has had its buildings machinery and the aqueducts ruined. The total number of lives lost may be about 800 to 900.

At the port of Ocos, only three houses remained standing and the big landing-pier was broken near the land.

In the city of Guatemala most of the churches and some houses sustained slight damages; the same happened in Antigua (Guatemala). Escuintla and Amatitlan suffered considerably.

The railways between Retalhuleu and the port of Champerico and the one between Ocos and Coatepec were interrupted by the falling of bridges and damage to the road. The railway between Guatemala and the port of San Jose remained unaffected and intact.

In the eastern portions of Guatemala the shock was only weak. I was at the time on my plantation "Germania", and did not feel anything at all.

Until May 5 earthquakes of small intensity were still frequent from the city of Guatemala to the west.

During the night of April 11-12 a severe thunderstorm did considerable damage to houses and other property at San Salvador, the capital of the republic of El Salvador, and at 7.25 p.m. on April 16 a powder explosion blew up the military barracks at Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, destroying a number of houses and killing many people. I mention this because later on these events might get mixed up with the earthquake.

(above from reference #7915)