37 Hurt in Central American Quake

..c The Associated Press

 By ALFONSO ANZUETO

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - A strong earthquake shook the Caribbean coast of 
Guatemala and Honduras on Sunday, injuring dozens of people and damaging a 
U.S. military base as windows shattered and walls cracked across the region.

At least 37 people were reported injured, many with broken bones, in the 
eastern Guatemalan province of Izabal, Vice Gov. Adolfo Hernandez said.

The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., reported the quake's magnitude 
at 6.6, while Guatemala's Seismological Station estimated the magnitude at 
6.1, up from an initial report of 5.9.

The quake, which occurred at 8:14 a.m. local time (10:14 a.m. EDT), provoked 
alarm among people across Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.

The preliminary center point was located about 20 miles east of the 
Guatemalan coast city of Puerto Barrios, according to Jim Taggart, a 
geophysicist with the survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

Roads buckled and buildings cracked at a temporary U.S. military base in 
Puerto Barrios, said Lt. Col. Jeff Keane, a U.S. Army reservist who was 
across the border in Honduras at the Soto Cano Air Base, where he is based, 
when the quake struck.

``We were in a building. The building started shaking and telephone poles 
began tilting as the ground trembled. It lasted over a minute,'' Keane told 
The Associated Press by telephone from Honduras.

About 200 U.S. Army reservists from Massachusetts and Connecticut are 
stationed in Puerto Barrios to help build schools and repair infrastructure 
damaged last year in Hurricane Mitch, Keane said. But the schools they are 
building appeared not to be damaged, he said.

There were no reports of injuries at either base in Guatemala or Honduras. 
But aftershocks continued Sunday in Puerto Barrios.

The earthquake damaged buildings in eastern Guatemala, including the Our Lady 
of the Trinity church in Chiquimula, 90 miles southwest of Puerto Barrios. 
Windows shattered at the international airport at Santa Elena and the 
Guatemalan Air Force base, both in the northern province of Peten.

The quake also cut power to towns in Guatemala's northern and eastern regions.

Guatemala's disaster-relief agency, CONRED, was surveying the rest of the 
nation for any further damage or injuries.

In Honduras, the quake caused minor damage, such as cracked walls at a 
hospital in the northern city of El Progresso and fallen electrical poles 
along the north coast.

``The quake alarmed Hondurans but did not cause deaths or injuries ... only 
fear,'' said Jose Zelaya, a Red Cross spokesman in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran 
capital.

Seismologists in El Salvador said the quake lasted one minute 10 seconds and 
was felt across their country. The Red Cross in El Salvador told local radio 
there were no reports of damage or injuries.

The quake was felt as far away as the Mexican city of Villahermosa, 330 miles 
northwest of Puerto Barrios.

AP-NY-07-11-99 1842EDT

 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP 
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise 
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 

 

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