Damage reports: 1 dead, 38 injured in earthquakes

Carlos Herrera/Confidencial.

A woman in Nagarote prays after Thursday’s earthquake

(posted April 12, 7:50 am) — One woman is dead (heart attack) and 38 people are injured after a series of earthquakes and tremors shook Nicaragua over the past two days, according to preliminary reports from Civil Defense.

Most of the damage was caused by the first 6.2-magnitude quake and was concentrated in the lakeshore municipality of Mateare, north of the capital, and further north in León’s municipalities of Nagarote and La Paz Centro.

Nandaime, the epicenter of Friday afternoon’s 6.6-magnitude quake, managed to survive with only light damage to 20 homes, because the quake was deeper and shorter than the Thursday afternoon quake that shook for 45 seconds and caused significant more damage further north. There have been more than 1,000 tremors registered since Thursday evening.

Civil Defense reports that the series of quakes destroyed 53 homes and damaged 1,060 more. Preliminary reports indicate 731 cracks found in buildings, and 300 meters of downed power lines.