THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2012 - 10:33
Location:
GUATEMALA CITY
A truck remains under the ruins of a collapsed house in San Marcos, 240km of Guatemala City, on Nov 7. AFP
THE death toll in Guatemala's earthquake rose to 48 on Wednesday, President Otto Perez said after he toured the disaster area in the southwest of the country.
The 7.4-magnitude quake struck off the central American country's Pacific coast earlier in the day, destroying scores of homes and injuring another 150 people.
The earthquake rattled nerves in neighbouring Mexico and El Salvador, sparking a tsunami alert on the Salvadoran coast and evacuations from offices, homes and schools as far north as Mexico City.
Earlier during his tour, Perez said: "We have to lament the death of 39 people. It is a tragedy," raising the toll after preliminary reports of 15 deaths.
The 39 were found in six towns in San Marcos department, located at the border with Mexico and some 250 kilometres (155 miles) west of the Guatemalan capital.
The earthquake levelled 131 homes and injured 155 people in San Marcos department, Perez added. The president earlier said that 100 people may be missing in the disaster.
Authorities opened 11 shelters that can house 800 people.
The region bore the brunt of the damage as cars were crushed, roads cut off and utility services collapsed.
Communication was difficult in the area due to downed powerlines and power outages. Some 73,000 homes were without power, according to the energy minister.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1635 GMT some 24 kilometres south of Champerico and 163 kilometres west-southwest of Guatemala City. The depth was 41.6 kilometres.
The Mexican Seismological Service said 35 aftershocks followed the quake, which it put at a magnitude of 7.3, some 68 kilometres southwest of Ciudad Hidalgo in the state of Chiapas.
The quake was strongly felt in Guatemala City and southern Mexico. People streamed out of homes, schools and office buildings in Mexico City too.
"We just had an earthquake," Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter.
"It was intense in a good part of the city," he said, adding later that the quake did not cause any damage to the sprawling metropolis of 20 million people.
Mexico City's metro service was briefly suspended.
Buildings were also evacuated in the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, without reports of damage or victims.
"I was scared. It was horrible," said Uvita Mena, who lives in the Chiapas town of Tuxtla Gutierrez.
The USGS had initially measured the quake at magnitude 7.5.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no destructive widespread tsunami threat, but Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes ordered evacuations in Puerto de la Libertad and other western coastal towns.
"This country is constantly exposed to threats... and this time the threat is a tsunami on the Salvadoran coast, especially the western beaches," Funes said.
The Salvadoran Environment Observatory issued a tsunami alert for the west coast departments of Ahuachapan and Sonsonate.
"We are not talking about a tsunami of a large magnitude," observatory spokeswoman Daysi Lopez said, adding that it would be very localised.
The event came two months after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake rocked Costa Rica, without causing any casualties or injuries. —AFP
Post time 8-11-2012 11:38 AM
变色卡
Author
.. moga kita di jauhkan daripada segala musibah ..
