Honduras: Strong Earthquake Shakes Country

Honduras awoke early in the morning of May 28 when an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale shook the country. The epicenter was located 130 kilometers northeast of the city of La Ceiba, along the Atlantic Ocean coast. At 2:24 a.m. local time, the earthquake caused residents to emerge from their houses in the darkness in order to find safety. Five deaths were confirmed, more injured, and slowly there is the discovery of damages to the country's infrastructure like buildings, bridges, and highways.

Microblogging platforms like Blipea and Twitter were the first to report the earthquake from users in San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba. Many reported on the situation around them using the hashtag #temblorHN (earthquakeHN).

Yamil Gonzalez @yamilg wrote:

hable con mi tia que vive en la ceiba dice que estuvo fuertísimo se asustaron bastante, los adornos y todo eso se cayeron al piso #temblorHN

I spoke with my aunt who lives in La Ceiba who said it was strong and they were very scared, the decorations and everything else fell to the ground #temblor HN

Roberto @roberto wrote:

yo escuchaba que el armario se mecía casi salgo corriendo a la calle

I heard the cupboard rocking and I almost left running out to the street

Jagbolanos @jagbolanos wrote:

Me desperto, estoy esperando por si hay replicas

I am awake, waiting just in case there are aftershocks

Some Honduran bloggers were not able to immediately update their blogs because of the energy and internet outages in their communities. However, Janpedrano Blog [es] was one of the first to provide information about the earthquake receiving updates from friends and family. He received a phone call from his brother:

Mientras estaba al teléfono con el, mi messenger parecía árbol de navidad con mensaje tras mensaje de familiares y amigos en San Pedro Sula dejándome saber que es lo que estaba pasando. Incluso una amiga que vive en Suiza me mando un mensaje para ver si yo ya sabia del mismo. La palabra que creo fue el común denominador en todos estos mensajes fue “horrible”, ya que pues fue una sacudida que pues la mayor parte de la gente jamás había experimentado. Mi mama vive en Roatán por lo que la llame para ver como estaba, y pues igual fuera del susto estaba bien.

While I was on the phone with him, my (MSN) Messenger looked like a Christmas tree with message after message from relatives and friends in San Pedro Sula letting me know what was happening. Even a friend from Switzerland sent me a message asking me if I knew about the situation. The word that was the common denominator in those messages was “horrible” because it shook the country and the majority of people never felt anything like it before. My mother lives in Roatán and I called her to see how she was, and apart from the scare, everything was fine.

He also provided updates throughout the day including the collapse of The Democracy Bridge, one of the country's most important bridges [es].

La Gringa's Blogicito was delayed in reporting her impressions because of the lack of electricity, but later wrote that this was her first earthquake she experienced since living in Honduras.

Born in Honduras and its Spanish version Nacer en Honduras [es] provided links from local newspapers. In addition, Interartix [es] shares a map of the epicenter and the tsunami alert that was issued, but later withdrawn.

The various online sites of the national newspapers struggled to remain online because they received many visitors, especially from abroad in the United States and Spain, who were looking for information about family and friends.

2 comments

  • Leah Weatherman

    Does anyone know what effect the earthquake had on La Moskitia? Particularly the Belen and Cocobila area. There isn’t a lot of internet access in the area and cell towers might have been damaged so I’ve had a tough time getting info.

    • Leah Weatherman

      Alquien sabe que efecto el terremoto tenia en la coasta de La Moskitia? Especialmente cerca de Belen y Cocobila. No puedo encontrar con ningun forma de informacion sobre esta region. Estare muy agradecida.

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