Natural Disasters

Honduras experiences earthquakes. In 2009, a Magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Honduras and killed 6 people and destroyed several structures, including the “La Democracia” bridge over the Ulua river, built by the French in 1963.

The government collaborates with agencies like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve national and regional disaster response and coordination structures in order to prepare for possible natural disasters

Minerals

Mining in Honduras includes gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. Most mining is small scale or artisanal, done by hand. An important source of income for many people, there are over 600 mining villages around Honduras.

Mountains

There are 2058 named mountains in Honduras. The tallest is Cerro Las Minas at 9,347 feet (2,849m) located in the Lempira Department in the western part of the country

The largest mountain range is the Central American Cordillera, which runs east to west creating Honduras’s rugged terrain. Other ranges include the Cordillera Nombre de Dios across the northern coast and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas that extends in Honduras from Guatemala.

Volcanos

Honduras is home to one of the largest volcano in Central America, called El Pedregal. It is a shield volcano, and has a large 300m pond atop it. Many people live on this volcano and it is believed to be extinct.

Other Volcanos include La Isla de Tigre, a large stratovolcano island in the Gulf of Fonseca (pictured).

NBC News
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Pousset, C. (2024, February 23). Digging for the last gram of gold in Honduras’ artisanal mines. Contra Corriente. https://contracorriente.red/en/2024/02/23/digging-for-the-last-gram-of-gold-in-honduras-artisanal-mines

planetGOLD. (2025, April 28). Honduras. planetGOLD. https://www.planetgold.org/honduras Planet Gold+1

Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program. (n.d.). Honduras volcanoes. Volcano SI. https://volcano.si.edu/volcanolist_countries.cfm?country=Honduras