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British travellers to Nicaragua have been advised to read hotel earthquake instructions as the Central American country was put on high alert following a series of tremors.
In an updated travel advisory, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “There has been an increase in seismic activity in April 2014. Make sure you know what to do if a tremor or earthquake occurs.
“Read the hotel earthquake instructions. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has advice about what to do before, during and after an earthquake.”
Recent tremors have reactivated a fault which caused a devastating earthquake in 1972 which killed as many as 10,000 people.
The government agency in charge of disaster preparedness, Sinapred, said it was getting ready for a “catastrophe of major proportions,” the BBC reported.
Nicaragua has been hit by three quakes of magnitudes ranging between 5.1 and 6.7, as well as dozens of aftershocks, in the past week.
Soldiers have been erecting field hospitals and the Red Cross urged people to donate blood to replenish the country’s blood banks.
Some people considered to be at high risk either because of their age or because they live in houses at risk of crumbling have been moved to shelters.