There have been many large earthquakes in this part of the plate boundary, including events in 1982, 2001, 2012 (El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala) and 2014.

[7] Using longer period seismic waves, magnitudes have been calculated in the range 7.6–7.7 Mw, consistent with the size of the observed tsunami.

[1] At least 116 people were killed, most being children sleeping in their beds,[8] with more than 68 missing and over 13,500 left homeless in Nicaragua.

[3] According to the Augusto César Sandino Foundation, the most affected were "inhabitants of small poor communities who live from diverse subsistence activities.

[11][12] The tsunami was disproportionately large for its surface wave magnitude, or Ms,[6] and the duration of the rupture process was 100 s, unusually long for its size.

[6] Tide gauges were set up at Corinto and Puerto Sandino, which showed an impulsive tsunami originating 61 minutes after the earthquake.

[1] President Violeta Chamorro stated in her speech to the nation on 2 September 1992, that no international assistance was needed.