ABSTRACT
In the Caribbean, major earthquakes seem to occur every 100 years. In Mexico and Central America, where the centres of population sit exactly on the fault lines, earthquakes cause huge devastation approximately once every thirty years, and serious damage at least annually. Cities like Guatemala and San Salvador have had to be rebuilt several times, and Managua was almost completely destroyed in 1931 and 1972. Mexico City, previously protected by its marshy subsoil, was very badly damaged and suffered enormous loss of life in the 1985 earthquake. The Andean countries have also been the victim of periodic earthquakes and their coasts often struck by the tidal waves they cause. The 1960 earthquake in Chile reached the highest point ever on the Richter scale; in 1970 Peru was left with a toll of 66,000 dead, among the highest number of deaths registered anywhere in the world.
