El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, is packed with volcanoes because the Cocos Plate subducts beneath the Caribbean Plate along the region's Pacific margin. This subduction feeds a volcanic chain and produces frequent earthquakes, both from the offshore trench and from shallow faults right beneath populated areas.
Volcanoes such as Santa Ana (Ilamatepec), San Miguel and the young Izalco — once nicknamed the 'Lighthouse of the Pacific' — dominate the landscape. The country suffered two devastating earthquakes in early 2001 that triggered massive landslides, underlining how tightly its dense population lives alongside a highly active geological environment.