At least three people have died, among them a newborn boy, after a strong 6.9-magnitude shook the border between Guatemala and Mexico on Monday. The temblor injured 32 others, damaged dozens of buildings, toppled down power lines as well as triggered landslides.
The quake struck at 6:23 a.m. (7:23 a.m. EDT; 11:23 GMT) on the Pacific Coast 1 mile (2 kilometres) north-northeast of Puerto Madero, near the Guatemala border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Initially gauging the magnitude at 7.1 but later lowered the figure to 6.9, the agency said the temblor's epicentre was on the Pacific Coast of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, near a border town called Puerto Madero, 40 miles below the surface.
The quake was felt as far north as Mexico City, through central Guatemala and as far south as El Salvador, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"I thought the house was going to collapse," 32-year-old mother Claudia Gonzales, who ran to the street in the town of Comitan with her 1-year-old baby daughter, told AP.
The fatalities, among them a newborn male, died crushed by the ceilings that collapsed over them, fire department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
"With the reports we have so far, we can say this quake has caused moderate damage. It's not light damage," Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said at a news conference, adding there were over 80 homes damaged, 40 of them severely.
Many of the injured got hurt because of head injuries, and 41 houses were severely damaged, Perez said. A further 39 houses suffered lighter damage, and 36 people in the municipality of San Sebastian Huehuetenango were evacuated, he added.
"This quake was pretty strong. Families in the area are really scared because of the whole experience of November 2012," San Marcos governor Luis Rivera said.
CNN reported part of an airport in Tapachula, a Mexican city of about 300,000 people near the Guatemala border got damaged. "Lights hung precariously by wires, and debris littered a floor, pictures that the city government posted to Twitter show."
A damaged house is pictured in the San Marcos region, in the northwest of Guatemala, in this July 7, 2014 handout picture by Guatemala's municipal fire department. A strong earthquake shook the Guatemalan border with Mexico on Monday, killing at least four people, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. The 6.9 magnitude quake struck near the frontier, and much of the damage was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, opened cracks in buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads. REUTERS/Municipal fire department/Handout via Reuters (GUATEMALA - Tags: DISASTER TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTSReuters/Municipal fire departmDamaged coffins are burned after the human remains in them were exhumed from destroyed graves in the cemetery of San Marcos, after an earthquake struck the San Marcos region, in northwest Guatemala, July 7, 2014. A strong earthquake shook the border between Guatemala and Mexico on Monday, killing at least five people, including a newborn boy, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. Much of the damage from the 6.9-magnitude quake was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, cracked buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez (GUATEMALA - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)REUTERS/Jorge Dan LopezTombs damaged by the earthquake are seen in the cemetery of San Marcos, in the San Marcos region, in northwest Guatemala, July 7, 2014. A strong earthquake shook the border between Guatemala and Mexico on Monday, killing at least four people, including a newborn boy, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. The 6.9 magnitude quake struck near the frontier. Much of the damage was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, cracked buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads.
REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez (GUATEMALA - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)REUTERS/Jorge Dan LopezA damaged church is pictured in the San Marcos region, in the northwest of Guatemala, in this July 7, 2014 handout picture by Guatemala's municipal fire department. A strong earthquake shook the Guatemalan border with Mexico on Monday, killing at least four people, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. The 6.9 magnitude quake struck near the frontier, and much of the damage was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, opened cracks in buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads. REUTERS/Municipal fire department/Handout via Reuters (GUATEMALA - Tags: DISASTER)ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNSREUTERS/Municipal fire departmResidents stand next a building damaged by an earthquake in the town of Huixtla, Mexican state of Chiapas July 7, 2014. A strong earthquake shook the Guatemalan border with Mexico on Monday, killing at least four people, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. The 6.9 magnitude quake struck near the frontier, and much of the damage was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, opened cracks in buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads. REUTERS/Juan Manuel Blanco (MEXICO - Tags: SOCIETY DISASTER)REUTERS/Juan Manuel BlancoAn earthquake-damaged house is pictured in the San Marcos region, in the northwest of Guatemala, July 7, 2014. A strong earthquake shook the Guatemalan border with Mexico on Monday, killing at least four people, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering landslides. The 6.9 magnitude quake struck near the frontier, and much of the damage was reported in the Guatemalan border region of San Marcos, where it downed power lines, opened cracks in buildings and triggered landslides which blocked roads.
REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez (GUATEMALA - Tags: DISASTER TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
