The October 14, 2014 M 7.3 earthquake off the coast of El Salvador occurred as the result of normal faulting in the Central America subduction zone. The location and depth of the earthquake are consistent with its occurrence either within the subducting oceanic Cocos plate, or in the accretionary wedge of the overriding Caribbean plate, rather than on the main subduction zone thrust. At the latitude of this event, the Cocos plate is converging with the Caribbean plate at the rate of roughly 73 mm/yr in an east-northeast direction. The approximate depth of the subducted Cocos plate at the location of the earthquake is 50 km. The portion of the Middle America subduction zone bordering El Salvador and Nicaragua, locus of the October 14 earthquake, is very seismically active, with events of M 7.3 (2012), M 7.7 (2001), M 7.7 (1992) and M 7.3 (1982) all having occurred within 200 km of the October 14 earthquake in the past 35 years. The 2001 M 7.7 earthquake involved normal faulting with similar orientation to the event on October 14, and likely occurred within the subducting Cocos plate. It caused substantial damage in El Salvador and Guatemala, with the majority of fatalities caused by a triggered landslide.
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