Caribbean island resort of Roatan bore the brunt of the May 28 early morning quake, hitting just north of the favourite tropical destination for western tourists. No word yet on damage from Roatan quake and possible mini tsunami.A 7.1 major earthquake has hit central America.
The early morning May 28 2009 7.1 quake struck at 16.783°N, 86.166°W just off the resort island of Roatan, apart of Honduras. A witness told CNN International there was some panic as people fled to higher ground on the Roatan resort island, fearing a tsunami.
"Everything was moving.The TV fell on the ground. The difficulty was we couldn't even walk." Carol Frazier in Roatan, Honduras said.
"Many buildings damaged, some collapsed in south Belize people are in streets. Officials trying to get people out of the houses."- Twitter user quinceb23 wrote
Millions of people across central America were waken by the quake around 2.30am local time, Twitter reports say.
The quake was just 27 miles from the large Caribbean resort of Roatan, an area popular for its scuba diving, snorkeling and dolphin watching.
Twitter reports from around the region said they were woken by violent shaking.
The USGS said the 7.1 "major" Quake happened on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 08:24:45 UTC or Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 03:24:45 AM at epicenter
"Yup, was an earthquake. Felt about 10 to 15 seconds of rolling here in Belize. Strong enough to wake us." one Twitter user in the region said.
A radio report from Honduras said 5 people may have died and many injured, a unconfirmed report.
A 4.8 magnitude aftershock was experienced in Belize some 2 hours after the initial 7.1 Roatan earthquake.
Come back to Newsbizarre.com as the story develops....
Roatan is popular with European and North American tourists...Located near the largest barrier reef in the Caribbean Sea (second largest worldwide after Australia's Great Barrier Reef), it has become an important cruise ship and scuba diving destination in Honduras. Tourism is its most important economic sector, though fishing is also an important source of income for islanders.
Roatan island bay by air.Video: Roatan island, looks good
Care and concern for our friends on the island. Faith & Tripp
Roatan family said it was the worst he'd experienced in 80 years. Everything fell off the walls and things are all upside down.
very scary awakening at 02.24 many of us fled for the high point near us, mostly to the west bay hill, where, tourists, residence, and locals all congregated, phone calls coming in to update us, where the epicentre was and warnings, most of us returned to our homes at 6am with no structural damage, or injuries, just us shaking at a possible tsunami, a very tired west end at the moment as most haven't slept since the earthquake!
heard of a couple of injuries on the island but not death!
the aftershocks continue throughout the day!