Why Do We Forget That Guatemala Shakes?

Earthquakes in Guatemala and the importance of seismic preparedness for the country's next major earthquake.

Guatemala has documented devastating earthquakes for nearly five centuries, yet the memory of disaster fades remarkably quickly. Fifty years after the 1976 earthquake, this essay revisits the country’s seismic history and asks an uncomfortable question: if we know the ground will shake again, why are we still unprepared?