Earthquake kills dozens in Guatemala

(Vatican Radio) A powerful earthquake has shaken Guatemala, killing scores of people and causing widespread damage.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake jolted Guatemala's Pacific Coast, but it was also felt in El Salvador to the South and Mexico to the North. Guatemalan seismology experts say it's the country's most powerful quake since 1976. Back then more than 25,000 people died following a 7.5 quake. This time around, tens of thousands of people have been left without electricity, rubble is strewn around and structural damage has been considerable, and there's loss of life. Many on feeling the quake ran out into the streets and stayed there quite some time, as aftershocks followed. Some registered more than a magnitude of more than five.
Guatemala's President Otto Molina Perez, who's made a red alert announcement which applies nationwide, says the death toll could rise and the earthquake is a tragedy.
Honduras, El Salvador and Panama have offered to help, and more Latin American Nations are expected to swiftly follow suite.

Listen to the report by correspondent James Blears: