At least six people were killed in a powerful earthquake measuring 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale that struck Honduras's Roatan island early on Thursday, news reports from Tegucigalpa said.

The quake happened at 2:24 a.m. local time (0824 GMT), 80 miles(130 kilometers) northeast of the coastal town of La Ceiba, and 200 miles (320 km) from the capital city of Tegucigalpa. It has a relatively shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers), according to reports.

Police sub commander Lusi Prerez said that the victims were from the municipalities of La Lima and El Negrito, in the department of Yoro (northeast), in Tela (north) and Gracias (west) city.

Also a 56 years old person died at his home due to a heart attack due to the earthquake.

The earthquake, which lasted about 30 seconds, sent panicked residents fleeing into the streets, local media said.

The earthquake could be obviously felt in many cities in north Honduras, including the city of San Pedro Sula.

The Permanent Commission of Contingences (Copeco) said in a report at 12:00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) that there were 230 partially damaged houses and 25 destroyed in different region of the country.

It also said that there were 25 injured at hospitals, most of them in the north zone.

In locality El Progreso, bridge La Democracia collapsed, 231 kilometers north to Tegucigalpa, while in Santa Barbara, 200 kilometers northwest to Tegucigalpa the ceiling of a church also collapsed.

In San Pedro Sula the building of the Justice Court, Sula Hotel, the Atlantida Bank and the public hospital Catarino Rivas were seriously damaged.

Hundreds of houses and buildings were damaged also in Cortes and el Progeso cities.

The hydroelectric dam "Francisco Morazan" was damaged in the south of Cortes department.

Copeco commissioner Marco Burgos said that they have registered some 11 replicas, mainly felt at the north of the country, but without sever damages.

Meanwhile, commander from the Firemen Corpse, Carlos Cordero said that in a first report 42 municipalities from the 298 have been affected in the country.

The quake triggered a tsunami alarm in Central America and the Caribbean region.

Source: Xinhua