SAN SALVADOR — A strong earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Central America shook the region Thursday, and it could prompt hazardous tsunami waves, a U.S. monitoring agencies said, just as a hurricane barreled into the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The 7.2 magnitude quake struck at a depth of about 20 miles, 96 miles south-southwest of Puerto Triunfo in El Salvador, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Pacific tsunami warning center said “hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 186 miles of the earthquake epicenter.”
Earlier on Thursday, category 2 Hurricane Otto hit land near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua, where thousands had already been evacuated away from vulnerable coastal areas and into shelters.