Guatemala earthquake: residents fear aftershocks

Crews work through the night in San Marcos, searching rubble for survivors after powerful magnitude 7.4 quake kills dozens

Guatemalans fearing aftershocks huddled in the dark and frigid streets of San Marcos wrapped in blankets early on Thursday, while others crowded inside its hospital, the only building left with electricity after a powerful earthquake killed at least 48 people and left dozens more missing.

Crews worked through the night in the mountain town, searching rubble for survivors and more dead following the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck on Wednesday near Guatemala's border with Mexico.


Volunteers carrying boxes of medical supplies began arriving in the area in western Guatemala late on Wednesday.




It hit hardest in San Marcos, where more than 30 homes collapsed and many of the colourful adobe buildings in its centre were either cracked or reduced to rubble, including the police station and the courthouse. The quake tore a large gash in one of the streets. Hundreds of frightened people stayed in the open, refusing to go back inside after more than five strong aftershocks shook the area.

President Otto Pérez Molina said that 40 people died in the state of San Marcos and eight more were killed in the neighbouring state of Quetzaltenango.



More than 300 firefighters, police officers and civilians dug desperately at a half-tonne mound of sand at a quarry trying to rescue seven people believed buried alive. Among those under the sand was a six-year-old boy who had accompanied his grandfather to work.




"One thing is to hear about what happened and another thing entirely is to see it," the president said. "As a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see mothers crying for their lost children."

Pérez said the government would pay for the funerals of all victims.

Efrain Ramos helped load a tiny casket carrying the body of his six-year-old niece from San Marcos' morgue to a waiting pickup truck.



The quake, which was 20 miles deep, was centred 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and 100 miles south-west of Guatemala City. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 temblor that killed 23,000.


Hospital officials in San Marcos said they had received 150 injured.
