[2] El Salvador lies above the convergent boundary where oceanic crust of the Cocos plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean plate at rate of about 72 mm per year along the Middle America Trench.

[3][4] The earthquake left 125 people dead across the San Salvador metropolitan area.

Other public and private structures such as the Isidro Menéndez Judicial Center and the Women's Prison were partially damaged.

[citation needed] The shaking was quick and violent, and many people did not have time to leave their homes.

Most buildings in the capital were built out of adobe, which lead to many deaths and hundreds of injuries.