4 Earthquakes In 2 Hours Shook Guatemala

4 Earthquakes In 2 Hours Shook Guatemala

Guatemala City — The southeastern part of Central American country of Guatemala was hit by 4 earthquakes in less than 2 hours Monday afternoon killing at least 1, authorities confirmed. 3 people were missing after the series of earthquakes.

Alvaro Colom, Guatemalan President, urged the public to calm down. The strongest quake out of the 4 is a magnitude 5.8 with the epicenter 30 miles or 51 km southeast of Guatemala City, the nation’s capital as confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey.  In a news conference, Guatemalan President said there is no logical reason to fear for a stronger earthquake.  Colom said the country’s rescue teams were already deployed across the affected areas.

A woman, 38 years old, died when she was hit by the wall that had collapsed while she was inside her house, killing her in an instant in Cuilapa, the area most effected which is also thought to be the epicenter. The death was confirmed by Mariano Laz, local Fire Department Volunteer spokesperson. Colom, Guatemalan leader, said the number of injured people cannot be numbered as ongoing rescue and data gathering were still ongoing.

Aside from Cuilapa, other areas badly hit were Oratorio and Sta. Ma. Inhuatan, the country’s institute of seismology said. School classes were forcefully cancelled while most public buildings were vacated after the tremors took place. In nearby country of El Salvador, the earthquakes caused landslides in a major highway burying a car. The strongest 5.8 magnitude quake hit 12:34 local time, 30 minutes later a 4.8 magnitude quake followed. Then by around 1:20pm another 4.8 magnitude quake hit and the last one a 4.5 magnitude at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday September 20 2011, 5:38 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0