TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A powerful earthquake toppled more than two dozen homes in Honduras and Belize early Thursday, killing two children and injuring 40 people as terrified residents spilled from their homes across much of Central America.
The magnitude-7.1 quake struck at 2:24 a.m. (4:24 a.m. EDT; 0824 GMT) off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of the beach town of La Ceiba, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.
"People were running for the door," Alfredo Cedeno said from the reception desk at the Gran Hotel Paris in La Ceiba. "You could really feel it and you could see it — the water came out of the pool."
Reynaldo Funez, 15, was buried in his house in Pineda de la Lima, 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and 6-year-old Deily Yazmin Santos was killed when her house collapsed in the beach town of Morazan, national fire commander Col. Carlos Cordero said.
He said there were unconfirmed reports of two more deaths. In all, he said, at least 40 people were injured, most along the Caribbean coast.
"It was an earthquake of great proportions," said Ana Maria Rivera, spokeswoman for the Honduran emergency commission.
Democracy Bridge, which spans the country's largest river, the Ulua, collapsed in the town of El Progreso, Cordero said. The bridge is one of two connecting the northern city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second-largest, with the rest of the country. Officials were evaluating the second bridge to make sure it was safe
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