2012 Tikal earthquake

The 2012 Tikal earthquake was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that occured on March 10, 2012, at 2:17 PM local time. The quake occured along a little-known fault zone located beneath Tikal, Guatemala, former capital of the ancient Mayan Empire. The fault, later labeled the Tikal Fault, was a branch of the Motagua Fault, which caused the 1976 Guatemala earthquake. Forty-one casualties occured as a result of the quake, when it triggered a landslide in Belize. Simon Lynch, his brothers Peter Lynch and Simon Jeffries, and his son Joseph were in Tikal on a tour when the quake struck, exposing the Tikal Chamber, hidden since after the Spanish occupation of 1541.