World

Deadly Guatemala quake triggers landslides

By AAP Newswire

Feb 17, 2022

Deadly Guatemala quake triggers landslides — Two people died after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the Central American country of Guatemala. -AP

An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 has struck southwestern Guatemala, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) says, killing two people, collapsing roofs and triggering landslides.

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The quake was at a depth of 96 kilometres in the early hours of Wednesday, with the epicentre 16 km east of Tiquisate, Guatemala, EMSC said.

Tiquisate is in a mostly poor region on the Central American nation's coastal planes, and is surrounded by large banana and palm oil plantations that export to the United States.

Guatemala's disaster agency, the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), pegged the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.8.

As of 8:30am local time, authorities had reported two fatalities, a woman in the city of Mixco, a western suburb of the capital, and a man in the highland city of Quetzaltenango. Both died of heart attacks, authorities said.

Images shared by the agency on social media showed rockfalls and uprooted trees blocking routes following the earthquake, including to Antigua, a colonial city popular with tourists.

The initial tremblor was followed by two aftershocks of above magnitude 4 in the region, according to EMSC.