A powerful new earthquake struck El Salvador yesterday, killing at least 92 people and injuring 714 as it flattened homes, schools and churches.
The 6.6-magnitude quake came one month to the day after one of 7.6 magnitude killed at least 844 people and left thousands homeless in the country of 6.2 million.
"The preliminary total is of 92 dead, and the number of injured totals 714," President Francisco Flores told a news conference.
Many of the casualties were in three districts close to the capital of San Salvador: La Paz, Cascatlan and San Vicente. The quake destroyed houses in the town of San Vicente, some 60 km east of the capital, according to the Public Works Minister.
The quake struck as many Salvadoreans were on their way to work. Thousands of others rushed into the streets when the ground started shaking.
Five schoolchildren and their teacher died when the quake leveled a parish school in the village of Candelaria, on the outskirts of the town of Cojutepeque, some 33 km to the east of the capital.
On a visit to San Vicente, President Flores said, "I appeal to the population for calm, and even though it is a new blow for the country, it is not as harsh a blow as January 13th was."
Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for in the earlier quake, which wrecked more than 278,00 homes.
A reporter with the YSKL radio network said he had seen at least 15 people being taken to a hospital in San Vicente. Some of the collapsed homes had been severely damaged by January's catastrophe, the reporter said.
Yesterday's earthquake was felt in the neighbouring Central American nations of Honduras and Guatemala.
An earthquake which hit Indonesia's Sumatra island early today measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and caused panic but there have been no initial reports of casualties or damage, local officials said.
The Australian Geological Survey Organisation had put the quake at 7.3 on the Richter scale and said it was strong enough to cause considerable damage and create tidal waves.
"The quake was felt in Bengkulu (province) and Jakarta, but we haven't received any reports on damage or casualties caused by the quake," an official with the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta said.
He said the earthquake occurred at 2:28 a.m. local time and had an epicentre deep in the ocean around 21 km south-west of Bengkulu town.