Central America and the Caribbean Islands formed from the Farallon Tectonic Plate which was previously subducted in a collision with the conjoined North and South American Tectonic Plates. As the Americas separated, the Farallon Plate slid between them. Then the Atlantic and Pacific Tectonic plates subducted beneath the Farallon Plate forming Central America and the Antilles Islands. Now, squeezed between these four massive tectonic plates, the region is riddled with volcanoes and fault lines with their accompanying earthquakes.
—David Foss