By DIEGO MENDEZ Associated Press
Writer
SAN SALVADOR,
El Salvador (AP)--At least 100 small-to-moderate earthquakes have
struck El Salvador in a 24-hour period, killing one person and
causing landslides in mountainous areas.
The quakes,
ranging from magnitude 2 to 5.3, began at midday Tuesday and lasted
until Wednesday morning, with the majority centered in the central
city of San Vicente, one of the areas hardest hit by a deadly
6.6-magnitude earthquake in February.
In San Vicente
and surrounding towns, 44 homes were completely destroyed while
another 70 were damaged, said public works secretary Miguel Angel
Quiros.
Dozens of
San Vicente's residents slept in the streets Tuesday night out
of fear that their homes would collapse.
A 36-year-old
farmer died after an adobe wall fell on him in his house, in the
town of Conchagua, 120 miles east of the capital, San Salvador,
local attorney general's office spokesman William Martinez said.
The man, who
was not identified, was in the midst of repairing his house after
it suffered damages in the February quake and a 7.6-magnitude
temblor on Jan. 13. The two quakes killed more than 1,200 people
and injured 8,000.
In nearby
Apastepeque, 40 houses under repair from the previous quakes collapsed.
Tuesday's
quakes also set off landslides in mountainous areas in the eastern
provinces of Usulutan, San Miguel, and the central areas of San
Vicente and Cuscatlan, the National Emergency Committee said.
The quakes
also were felt in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
El Salvador
has experienced more than 7,000 aftershocks of varying magnitudes
in the wake of the January and February quakes.
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