AP PhotoA vehicle is seen destroyed when a portion of a home fell on it after an earthquake hit the town of San Manuel, Honduras, Thursday May 28, 2009. A magnitude-7.1 earthquake toppled dozens of homes in Honduras and Belize early Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring 40 as terrified residents spilled from their homes across much of Central America.
Action by Churches Together (ACT) International members in Honduras are mobilising to assess needs and respond if necessary to a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake that has struck the nation Thursday morning.
According to Associated Press, the offshore quake killed at least six people, injuring over 40 people and destroyed some 60 houses and damaged scores of other buildings across the north of Honduras and Belize.
“ACT members are currently beginning to assess the impact of the disaster in areas where they have operational presence. Once more information is known, and depending on the scale of the disaster, ACT members will determine how to best respond,” stated a public statement released by ACT International.
Claudia Herrera, a Honduras-based program officer with Christian Aid, reports that there is little information so far as communication lines were broken, and telephones and Internet connectivity are only just starting to function again.
"People from coastal towns and ports were alerted to evacuate in case of a tsunami risk", reports Carlos Cardenas, the Central America representative for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Honduras is a poor country of 7 million people, the earthquake briefly triggered a tsunami alert for Central America's Caribbean coast. The tsunami threat has since been suspended by the authorities.
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