Powerful Earthquake Rocks Mexico And Guatemala, Five Killed (VIDEO)

A magnitude-6.9 earthquake rocked a wide section of southern Mexico and Central America early Monday, killing at least five people and damaging dozens of buildings in Guatemala, Los Angeles Times reported. Several lesser aftershocks were recorded, but no tsunami alert was issued.

The powerful earthquake, which struck at about 7:23 a.m. ET, was felt as far north as Mexico City, through central Guatemala and as far south as El Salvador, with its epicenter being located on the Pacific Coast of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, near a border town called Puerto Madero, about 40 miles below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. Most damage of collapsed walls, temporary electrical power cuts and numerous landslides were reported in the Guatemalan state of San Marcos.

At least two people were crushed to death when their homes in San Marcos collapsed, leaving 21 people injured, Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre reported. Another woman in Quetzaltenango died from a heart attack, and a fourth person, identified as Jose Molina, was killed in Chiapas, authorities said. A possible fifth death, a newborn crushed by a falling ceiling, was confirmed by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina. Further details were not immediately available.

In a national address, Perez Molina said 36 people were evacuated from badly damaged homes in western Guatemala, and 44 schools reported varying degrees of destruction. One major highway from the city of Quetzaltenango was completely blocked by a landslide, and water systems in San Marcos were cut off when pipes fractured, he said. "This quake was pretty strong. There are houses destroyed," Luis Rivera, governor of the San Marcos region, told Reuters.

In Mexico, the quake was felt strongly in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, local news media reported. Known for seismic activity, the affected region of southern Mexico has witnessed several quakes in the high 6 or low 7 magnitude in the last year.

Although Monday's earthquake was initially reported as magnitude-7.1, the Geological Survey lowered the figure hours later, USA Today reported.

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