OT: earthquake

[Guest guest]

Here is a more recent update...how sad...to have this happen again in only a month! My son says they evacuated his school. But we are even farther than Tegucigalpa, mentioned below.

El Salvador Quake Kills at Least 92 - President

By Alberto Barrera

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A powerful new earthquake struck El Salvador on Tuesday, killing at least 92 people and injuring 714 as it flattened homes, schools and churches.

The 6.6-magnitude quake came one month to the day after one of 7.6 magnitude killed at least 844 people and left thousands homeless in the tiny Central American nation of 6.2 million.

``The preliminary total is of 92 dead, and the number of injured totals 714,'' President Francisco told a news conference.

The quake struck at 8:22 a.m. as many Salvadoreans were on their way to work. Thousands of others rushed into the streets when the ground started shaking.

Many of the casualties were in three districts close to the capital of San Salvador: La Paz, Cascatlan and San Vicente.

The quake destroyed houses in the town of San Vicente, some 40 miles east of the capital, according to Public Works Minister Angel Quiroz.

``There are about 200 (collapsed) houses where people are buried,'' Quiroz told a local radio station.

Parish School Leveled

Five schoolchildren and their teacher died when the quake leveled a parish school in the village of Candelaria, on the outskirts of the town of Cojutepeque, some 20 miles to the east of the capital. Another 15 children in the village were buried by falling debris.

One of the survivors, an 8-year-old boy, wept as he told reporters of the loss of his companions.

On a visit to San Vicente, said, ``I appeal to the population for calm, and even though it is a new blow for the country, it is not as harsh a blow as Jan. 13 was.''

Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for in the earlier quake, which wrecked more than 278,00 homes.

A reporter with the YSKL radio network said he had seen at least 15 people being taken to a hospital in San Vicente. Some of the collapsed homes had been severely damaged by January's catastrophe, the radio reporter said.

Police throughout the stricken areas were put on full alert to prevent looters from ransacking homes.

Tuesday's earthquake was also felt in the neighboring Central American nations of Honduras and Guatemala.

Damage in the Salvadoran capital was minimal, witnesses said.

Masonry Causes Injuries

Several people were buried by falling masonry in the town of San , 11 miles from the capital, the Red Cross said.

The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) in Golden, Colorado, said the quake, which lasted for about 20 seconds, had a magnitude of 6.6.

The agency said the epicenter was 15 miles southeast of San Salvador.

Earlier, the National Earthquake Information Service in Colorado had put the magnitude at 5.7 and said the epicenter was 60 miles south of the capital.

The earthquake sent hundreds of panic-stricken office workers into the streets and forced schools to close. Witnesses said many children were in tears.

``Everybody has left their offices and is in the streets. People are panicking,'' one witness said.

Witnesses said there was an aftershock about an hour later.

In Honduras, office workers in the capital, Tegucigalpa, also dashed into the streets.

A spokesman for the Tegucigalpa fire department said, ``We have reports of the quake from most parts of the country, but we have not heard of any damage or casualties.''