GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemala braced for more aftershocks yesterday, a day after a strong 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the south of the country, leading to power outages and landslides.
Officials said there were some two dozen aftershocks overnight, as they placed the nation on orange alert, one below the highest level red.
The temblor caused cuts in power, interruptions in phone service and landslides, and was felt as far away as neighbouring El Salvador and in southern Mexico.
But there were no casualties reported from the quake, which according to US seismologists struck 6km from Pajapita, Guatemala at a depth of 67.7km at 0013 GMT yesterday.
Southeastern Mexico was also jolted by at least three aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 6.1 felt near Ciudad Hidalgo, in the state of Chiapas, close to the Guatemalan border.
After the initial quake, residents had already evacuated their homes in several towns in the southern Mexican state while power was lost temporarily in Ciudad Hidalgo.
The Environmental Observatory in San Salvador said the quake was centered on the coast of Guatemala and Mexico, measuring its strength slightly lower at 6.3 on the Richter scale.
AFP
