A powerful earthquake that shook Guatemala and parts of El Salvador caused traffic chaos in Guatemala City, damaged some houses and generated landslides outside the capital.
But officials said there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries from the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck on Wednesday afternoon southwest of Guatemala City.
Aid workers across Guatemala reported only minor damage to homes in a couple of rural communities, said Francois de la Roche, Latin America's director for humanitarian and emergency affairs for the aid organization World Vision.
"I didn't notice it at first but then felt this long, swaying motion back and forward," de la Roche said in a telephone interview from Antigua, Guatemala.
The quake struck at 1:29pm local time and was centered 115km southwest of Guatemala City off the Pacific coast, the US Geological Survey said. Guatemala's seismology institute said the quake lasted 49 seconds.
In Guatemala City, people fled buildings into the streets, throwing traffic into chaos in the sprawling city.
"It rattled a lot of nerves," said Benedicto Giron, spokesman for the National Disaster Reduction Center.
Outside the capital, landslides were reported in the southwest province of Escuintla, but they apparently caused no casualties, Giron said.
The quake was also felt strongly in neighboring El Salvador, where people ran into the streets in the capital, San Salvador, but the Red Cross there said it had no reports of damage or injuries.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said no tsunami was expected from the quake.
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