Hundreds feared buried alive by earthquake
Hundreds of people are feared buried alive after a huge earthquake hit Central America, devastating a suburb of El Salvador's capital city.
At least 100 people are dead and up to 1,200 missing after the earthquake triggered a mudslide which buried about 400 homes in Las Colinas.
El Salvador's President Francisco Flores has declared a state of emergency. He has gone on national radio to urge people to remain calm.
In Las Colinas, a middle class area, volunteers with sticks and pickaxes have joined the rescuers. Heavy machinery arrived before midnight to move large pieces of rubble.
Emilio Renderos, a watchman in Las Colinas, said: "It was like a wave of dirt that covered us. It was horrible".
Elsewhere in the region, two people died in Guatemala when houses collapsed in the town of Halpatagua, near the border with El Salvador.
In Mexico, which was hit at the same time, scientists measured the quake at 7.6 on the Richter scale.
There are as yet no reports of casualties from any of the other affected countries, which include Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Pope John Paul II has urged the international community to come to the aid of earthquake victims in Central America.
The Pope said: "I want to express my spiritual nearness to the populations hit by the quake in that region so dear to me".
The beginning of an international effort has been signalled by Taiwan, which has offered $200,000 in emergency relief and says it will send 20 to 30 rescue workers.
The quake's epicentre was about 60 miles off the Pacific coast of El Salvador and could have been up to 7.9 on the Richter scale.
Residents in San Salvador say the earthquake is the most powerful there since one in 1986, in which 1,500 people died.
