7.4 offshore earthquake hits Central America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – A magnitude 7.4 underwater earthquake off the Pacific coast of El Salvador shook several Central American countries late Monday.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami warnings. But power outages were reported in El Salvador, and Nicaragua put out an internal alert, announcing that schools would be closed on Tuesday.

The quake, whose epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean about 169 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of San Salvado, occurred at 9:51 p.m. local time (10:51 EDT; 0251 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It had a depth of 70.5 kilometres (43.8 miles).

Along with a smaller offshore quake, it shook the southern coast and interior of the region from Guatemala to Costa Rica, according local reports.

The Red Cross in El Salvador and Costa Rica, the two countries closest to the epicenter, had no reports of victims.