Central America is one of the most tectonically active areas in the world, and its high seismicity rate demands the establishment of seismic instrumentation to monitor earthquake occurrence. The first seismological equipment installed in the region dates from 1882. In El Salvador, seismological observations began in the late nineteenth century when 15 Wiechert seismographs arrived in the country. A network of 12 short-period telemetric seismic stations became fully operational in El Salvador in late 1984; this network currently consists of 18 seismographs.

Earthquake monitoring in the other countries of the region by permanent networks has operated since the 1970s. In...