An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck off the coast of El Salvador on Thursday, 40 km south of La Libertad, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no warning in place for the coast of the western United States.
Initially there was the possibiity of small tsunami, but it did not appear. Civil defense employees were scouring the country for signs of damage, but they had reported no victims and no significant damage hours after the quake.
“Monitoring of the entire country reflects that there has not been grave or widespread damage,” El Salvador’s Civil Defense agency said.
The environmental ministry said in a statement that the “greatest threat of tsunami for El Salvador has passed. There have not been variations in the sea level.”
The government closed public schools in the coastal area for 24 hours and asked private schools to do the same.
Several aftershocks were recorded.
