This is my first post for The Odyssey, so please bear with me.

Just to give you a bit of a background on why I am writing about the smallest country in Central America; my parents are both from El Salvador and this country holds a special place in my heart. This small Central American country, is surrounded by mostly water on its southern coast. El Salvador has been mainly known for the terrible things, for example the rising crime rate by gangs that developed after the Civil War in the 1980s. Besides that, El Salvador is a beautiful country.

The story here is that in the past month El Salvador has gone through many earthquakes. And hey! That’s another reason we make the news. Back in January of 2001, El Salvador was hit with a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake, killed thousands and left millions homeless, and in the debris. This earthquake caused the ground to open and swallow lives, the rich and the poor, along with homes, belongings and picture perfect memories. Many not only were left homeless, but they were left alone; people lost their whole family.

In the earthquake of 2001, El Salvador lost a great music idol too, Sergio Moreno, the pianist for the rock band, Algodón. He was painting his house when the earthquake started and the wall of his home collapsed on him. He survived his long and intense surgery, but eventually died from his injuries and complications.

Since then, there has been an increase of earthquakes in El Salvador. This brings me to the main topic of this article.

In the past month, El Salvador has been hit with 130+ earthquakes, with the highest magnitude of 5.1. If you look at the geography of El Salvador; El Salvador sits on the Ring of Fire. To better explain myself, this area is where one tectonic plate meets another, and when they clash, it creates a shake, better known as an earthquake. In this same area, you will find the state of the stars, California, as well as the country of Japan. This also helps explain the natural disasters that happen there too. The earthquakes range between 1.1 to 5.1 magnitudes on the Richter scale. This past week alone, El Salvador has endured 4 earthquakes that have not dropped from a 4.1 magnitude.

The location of the earthquakes this past week.

Thankfully, 2001 has not repeated itself again, and there hasn’t been deaths in mass numbers. Prayers go out to the one person and their family, who has passed from the earthquakes this past week. As well for those who have suffered injuries. Amo a mi El Salvador, "todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece".