High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 2012 Guatemala earthquake occurred on November 7, 2012, at 16:35:47 UTC (10:35:47 local time). The epicenter of the 7.4 Mw earthquake was located in the Pacific Ocean, 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Champerico in the department of Retalhuleu. The region is one of many earthquakes, where the Cocos Plate is being subducted along the Middle America Trench beneath the North American and the Caribbean Plates, near their triple junction.