Magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes off El Salvador coast, one killed by electricity pole

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.4 on Richter scale struck the southern coast of El Salvador on late Monday, the US Geological Survey informed.

San Salvador: A powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on Richter scale struck the southern coast of El Salvador on late Monday, the US Geological Survey informed.

The quake was earlier measured 7.4 on Richter scale but later downgraded to 7.3.

 According to an alert issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, there was a risk of "hazardous tsunami waves".

Though there were no reports of any major damage, at least one man was killed when an electricity pole fell upon him, Wilfredo Salgado, mayor of the city of San Miguel in El Salvador posted on Twitter.

According to the USGS, the earthquake was centered about 40 miles to the south of the small coastal town of Intipuca at a depth of about 14 miles.

Major earthquake, OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR, Oct-14 03:51 UTC, 0 #quake tweets/min, http://t.co/X5dmCxVMui — USGSted (@USGSted) October 14, 2014

The quake off the coast of El Salvador occurred as the result of normal faulting in the Central America subduction zone, said the USGS, adding that the the portion of the Middle America subduction zone bordering El Salvador and Nicaragua, locus of the October 14 earthquake, is a very seismically active zone and has seen powerful quakes above magnitude 7 in 2012, 2001, 1992 1982.