New killer quake strikes El Salvador

People are reported trapped in collapsed houses

More than 120 people have been reported killed and 800 injured following a major earthquake in El Salvador - one month to the day after a massive quake killed more than 1,000 people.

Ten army helicopters have been sent to begin evacuating the injured in towns and villages in the worst-hit eastern and central regions of the country.

The 20-second quake - measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale compared with 7.6 on 13 January - hit at 0830 local time (1430 GMT), 15km south east of the capital, San Salvador.

Residents in San Salvador - with fresh memories of the last quake - fled to the streets in sheer panic, but there was little actual damage.

A spokesman for President Francisco Flores, whose office provided the latest casualty figures, said they were "conservative".

Anxious relatives

A collapsing grain tower reportedly killed two people in San Martin, 17km east of the capital, and local radio reporters counted eight bodies, two of them in Cojutepeque, 33km from the capital, and six in surrounding villages.

This is another blow for El Salvador, but we have to be calm

President Francisco Flores

People are reported trapped in collapsed houses in San Miguel de Tepezontes and San Agustin, outside the capital and in San Cayetano Istepeque, 30km east of the capital.

Damage was also reported in Los Chorros, 20km west of the capital and La Leona, 53km to the east.

The quake's impact included:

• Closed: Schools and public buildings, as well as San Salvador's airport, for damage checks

• Closed: Pan-American highway - still being restored after the 13 January quake - hit by landslides

• Cancelled: Religious services to mark one month after the original quake.

Local radio stations are relaying messages from anxious relatives, while traffic across the capital was reduced to a standstill as frantic parents rushed to pick up their children from school.

Aftershocks

And Red Cross officials have called on people to stock up on water and food supplies in case of further aftershocks.

President Flores said after seeing some of the destruction from the air: "This is another blow for El Salvador, but I call for tranquility. We have to be calm."

A small aftershock struck as the president visited a hospital in San Vicente, where hundreds of patients were sprawled on the floor or the grounds outside for lack of beds.

Experts are keeping an open mind on whether this latest quake is an aftershock of the 13 January quake.

Silvia Cornejo watches over her injured brother Jonathan

The US National Earthquake Information Centre has registered 10 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater since the original quake. The largest aftershock was on 16 January and measured 5.7.

The latest quake's shallow, land-based epicentre - compared with the original quake's sea-based epicentre - meant that it was felt strongly not only in El Salvador but in neighbouring Guatemala and Honduras.

El Salvador is still reeling from the January quake which caused more than $1bn in damage and the UN has appealed for extra funds to help provide adequate housing, food and healthcare.

Repairing damage from the latest quake could cost as much as the first, if not more.

Relief agencies have underlined the urgency of getting aid to the region before the rainy season begins in April.