1854 San Salvador earthquake

Earthquake in El Salvador January 2026 January 2026 1854 San Salvador earthquake El Salvador yes 1854 04 16 y 10:50 p.m. 10 seconds 6.5–6.6 ML 13.681 N 89.135 W region:SV_type:event inline,title near San JacintoAlvarenga Hernández Hernández FloresEl Diario de Hoy 2017 San Salvador San Salvador destroyed Yes Yes <100 killed~50 injured en-US On 16 April 1854, an earthquake hit San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. The earthquake measured 6.5–6.6 on the Richter scale. It killed no more than 100 people and destroyed San Salvador, forcing the country's government to temporarily relocate to Cojutepeque while it built a new capital city at Nueva San Salvador (modern-day Santa Tecla). In 1858, the government decided to return to San Salvador rather than relocate to Nueva San Salvador. Earthquakes On 13 April 1854, residents of San Salvador felt a small earthquake and reported that it sounded like heavy artillery rolling on pavement or like distant thunder. The earthquake did not impact that day's Holy Thursday celebrations.Martin 1911 252 At 9:30 p.m. on 16 April (Easter), a stronger earthquake hit San Salvador and forced many people to flee their homes and set up temporary encampments in public plazas.Martin 1911 253 Later that night, the strongest earthquake hit San Salvador at 10:50 p.m. The 10-second-long earthquakeMartin 1911 253 measured 6.5 or 6.6 on the Richter scale and had an epicenter near the neighborhood of San Jacinto.Alvarenga Hernández Hernández FloresEl Diario de Hoy 2017 Several prominent buildings were destroyed, including the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador and the University of El Salvador.Martin 1911 253 A document issued by Spanish king Charles I in 1543 that granted San Salvador its status as a city was also destroyed in the Municipal Archive of San Salvador.Lardé y Larín 2000 250–251 The destruction of buildings produced a cloud of dust across the city. According to an account written by the Salvadoran government on 2 May, the earthquake destroyed virtually all homes in the city. The earthquake induced volcanic activity from the San Salvador volcano.Martin 1911 253 Several aftershocks occurred through the following weeks.Martin 1911 254 Casualties The earthquake trapped at least a quarter of San Salvador's population under rubble, including over 100 students at the University of El Salvador. Victims crowded the city's hospitals and barracks. No more than 100 people were killed by the earthquake and around 50 more were injured. Among those injured included Tomás Miguel Pineda y Saldaña, the bishop of San Salvador; Francisco Dueñas, a former president of El Salvador; and a daughter of General José María San Martín, the incumbent president. The government expected that casualties would be higher,Martin 1911 254 but residents leaving their homes for encampments in public plazas saved many lives.Ward 1916 38–39 Aftermath The earthquake destroyed San Salvador.Haggerty 1990 50 The damage was so severe that San Martín ordered the government to temporarily relocate to SoyapangoEl Diario de Hoy 2017 and later Cojutepeque.Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 200 Similarly, the Supreme Court of Justice and University of El Salvador temporarily relocated to San Vicente.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 98 On 16 June, several Salvadoran leaders—including Pineda y Saldaña, Dueñas, Supreme Court president José Damián Villacorta, and Treasurer José María Cáceres, among others—proposed building the city of Nueva San Salvador (modern-day Santa Tecla) to replace San Salvador as the country's capital. The proposal was approved and Nueva San Salvador was founded on 8 August.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 98 The new city was established 8 mi km to the southwest of San Salvador at 800 ft m higher in elevation.Martin 1911 257 President Rafael Campo led efforts to rebuild San Salvador from 1856 to 1858.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 103 In 1858, the decision to relocate the capital from Cojutepeque was a political struggle between opposing factions: Dueñas wanted to move the capital to Nueva San Salvador as planned, while San Martín and former president Eugenio Aguilar wanted to return the capital to San Salvador.Ching 1997 207 The Catholic Church also urged the government to return to San Salvador due to the holy sites located in the city.Cortez 2024 Acting President Gerardo Barrios sided with San Martín and Aguilar and returned the country's capital to San Salvador.Ching 1997 207 San Salvador officially resumed its status as El Salvador's capital on 28 June 1858.El Diario de Hoy 2017 According to author Percy Falcke Martin, San Salvador "[bore] not a single trace of the disaster" by 1911.Martin 1911 255 San Salvador did not face another major earthquake that caused heavy damage until 1873.Martin 1911 257 In 2024, La Prensa Gráfica ranked the 1854 San Salvador earthquake as the most devastating earthquake in Salvadoran history.Cortez 2024 See also List of earthquakes in El Salvador References Citations 22em Bibliography Books 35em yes Bernal Ramírez Luis Guillermo Quijano de Batres Ana Elia amp 2009 Historia 1 El Salvador History 1 El Salvador https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoI_0_.pdf es Historia El Salvador El Salvador Ministry of Education 9789992363683 https://web.archive.org/web/20230213103128/https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoI_0_.pdf 13 February 2023 dead 14 January 2026 Ching Erik K. 1997 From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940 https://www.proquest.com/docview/304330235 PhD en Santa Barbara, California University of California, Santa Barbara 39326756 14 January 2026 304330235 Haggerty Richard A. 1990 El Salvador: A Country Study https://archive.org/details/elsalvadorcountr00hagg en 2nd Washington, D.C., United States Federal Research Division 9780525560371 89048948 1044677008 14 January 2026 Lardé y Larín Jorge 2000 El Salvador: Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonización El Salvador: Discovery, Conquest, and Colonization https://archive.org/details/elsalvadordescub0000lard/mode/2up registration es Library of Salvadoran History Publication and Printing Directory San Salvador, El Salvador 2nd 9992300523 2001371748 1148915832 15 January 2026 Leistenschneider María Leistenschneider Freddy 1980 Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías Governors of El Salvador: Biographies https://www.scribd.com/document/589275475/Gobernantes-de-El-Salvador es Ministry of the Interior 7876291 14 January 2026 amp Martin Percy Falcke 1911 Salvador of the Twentieth Century https://archive.org/details/salvadoroftwenti00mart/mode/2up en Longmans, Green & co. New York City and London nuc87633949 1157195793 14 January 2026 Ward L.A. 1916 Libro Azul de El Salvador: Histórico y Descriptivo, Comercio e Industrías, Hechos Datos y Recursos Blue Book of Salvador: Historical and Descriptive, Commercial and Industrial, Facts Figures and Resources https://ia803202.us.archive.org/23/items/libro-azul-1916/Libro%20Azul%201916.pdf es Latin American Publicity Bureau San Salvador, El Salvador 16103876 14 January 2026 Web sources 35em yes https://www.snet.gob.sv/Geologia/Sismologia/1crono.htm Cronología de Sismos Destructivos en El Salvador Chronology of Destructive Seismic Events in El Salvador es 14 January 2026 Government of El Salvador Edwin R. Alvarenga Douglas A. Hernández Daniel A. Hernández Flores amp https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Estos-fueron-los-terremotos-mas-devastadores-en-la-historia-de-El-Salvador-20240829-0059.html Estos Fueron los Terremotos Más Devastadores en la Historia de El Salvador These Were the Most Devastating Earthquakes in the History of El Salvador es 29 August 2024 14 January 2026 La Prensa Gráfica Arlen Cortez https://historico.eldiariodehoy.com/historico-edh/37713/hoy-se-cumplen-163-anos-del-terremoto-que-destruyo-san-salvador.html Hoy se Cumplen 163 Años del Terremoto que Destruyo San Salvador Today Marks 163 Years Since the Earthquake That Destroyed San Salvador es 16 April 2017 14 January 2026 El Diario de Hoy El Diario de Hoy 2017 El Salvador Geophysics Category:1854 earthquakes Category:1854 in El Salvador Category:1854 natural disasters Category:April 1854 Category:Earthquakes in El Salvador Category:History of San Salvador