Guatemala 7.5-Magnitude Quake Shakes Buildings Across Region

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake off Guatemala’s Pacific coast damaged buildings in the Central American nation and was felt in Mexico City and as far away as Costa Rica. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the temblor was “intense” in parts of the city, although subway and hospital services were uninterrupted. The earthquake lasted more than 30 seconds and electricity and phone lines are down in several regions of Guatemala, according to Guatemala City-based newspaper La Prensa Libre. “The quake was very long and very strong in Guatemala City,” Francisco Valdez, a seismologist at Guatemala’s National Volcanology, Seismology, Meteorology and Hydrology Institute, said in a phone interview. “We have heard reports of buildings damaged and several apartments and homes near the coast that have collapsed.” The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was 39 miles (63 kilometers) from Suchiate, Chiapas in Mexico and 53 miles from Retalhuleu, Guatemala, at a depth of 26 miles. The USGS issued a local tsunami warning for coasts located within 100 kilometers of the epicenter, adding that no widespread tsunami threat exists. Valdez said the quake occurred at 10:37 a.m. and was felt throughout the entire country. The Red Cross in Guatemala said there was no official reports of damage yet, spokesman Benicio Villagran said in a phone interview from Guatemala City. GUATEMALA CITY  — A strong earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Guatemala Wednesday morning, rocking the capital and shaking buildings as far away as Mexico City and El Salvador. Guatemala's emergency management agency said on its Twitter account that it had received preliminary reports of one death from the quake. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a possibility of a local tsunami, within 100 or 200 miles of the epicenter, but they were not issuing an immediate warning for the broader region. The magnitude-7.5 quake, about 20 miles deep, was centered about 30 miles off the coastal town of Champerico. Nicaragua's disaster management agency said it had issued a local tsunami alert, but there were no immediate reports of a tsunami on the country's Pacific coast. People fled buildings in Guatemala City, in Mexico City and in the capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas, across the border from Guatemala. A reporter in San Marcos about 80 miles north of the epicenter, told local radio station Emisoras Unidas that houses had collapsed onto residents and smashed televisions and other appliances had been scattered into the streets of the town, which sits in a mountainous, mostly rural region. The local fire department said on its Twitter account that a school had collapsed and eight injured people had been taken to a nearby hospital. Local radio reported widespread power outages and cuts in telephone service. Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said in a radio interview that the country had been placed on its highest level of disaster alert and he asked people to evacuate tall buildings as an emergency measure. The country's minister of communications and infrastructure told Emisoras Unidas that landslides had cut off several highways in the west of the country, and it would take at least 24 hours to reestablish transport links to San Marcos. A resident who identified herself as Mrs. Baglia told the radio station from the small town of San Pedro Sacatepequez, near San Marcos, that people had fled into the streets after being told of a tsunami alert. "People are in distress and no one can calm down," she said. A spokesman for El Salvador's Red Cross branch told The Associated Press that the quake had been felt throughout the country, sending people fleeing their homes in the capital, but there had been no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. He said there had been no local tsunami warning issued. El Salvador's Civil Protection agency said officials were evacuating some coastal communities as a precautionary measure. The mayor of Mexico City said no serious damage or injuries had been reported in the city, although many people had fled their offices and homes during the quake.