A magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck Guatemala this morning, shaking buildings as far away as Mexico City and El Salvador, AP has reported.
Guatemala's emergency management agency said on its Twitter account that it had received preliminary reports of one death from the quake, while local radio reported a family of ten killed in a collapsed house, and at least a dozen were reported injured in the same area, according to the AP report.
Although the social media chatter this morning mentioned widespread landslides and people trapped, AP described accounts of deaths and people trapped as "difficult to independently confirm".
According to the US Geological Society, the magnitude-7.4 quake is the largest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 temblor killed 23,000 in the small Central American country. This morning's quake was centred about 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and about 100 miles southwest of Guatemala City, according to USGS.
Nicaragua's disaster management agency said it had issued a local tsunami alert, but there were no immediate reports of a tsunami on the country's Pacific coast.
AP also reported that the mayor of Mexico City said no serious damage or injuries had been reported in the city, although many people had fled their offices and homes during the quake.