A powerful new earthquake shook El Salvador, killing at least 72 people and injuring 714 today, just one month after a big quake killed 844 people and left thousands homeless, a senior official said.
"There are already 72 dead and 714 injured as of one in the afternoon," said Luis Lopez Portillo, official spokesman of President Francisco Flores.
"This is a number which is rising," he told Reuters.
The 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 8.22 a.m. (2.22 p.m. Irish time) just as many Salvadorans were on their way to work in the morning rush hour. Thousands ran panic-stricken into the streets as the ground shook.
Mr Lopez Portillo said many of the casualties were in the La Paz and Cascatlan districts near the capital San Salvador.
The new quake also sent houses tumbling to the earth in the town of San Vicente, 40 miles (60 km) east of the capital, according to Public Works Minister Jose Angel Quiros.
"There are about 200 (collapsed) houses where people are buried," Mr Quiros told a local radio station.
The quake struck one month to the day after a 7.6 magnitude temblor on Jan. 13 killed at least 844 people in the tiny Central American nation of 6.2 million inhabitants. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for in that quake, which also wrecked more than 278,00 homes.
Reuters