Hurricane, quake hit Central America; no casualties reported

Los angeles : Central America on Wednesday fell victim to two natural disasters which triggered an alarm in the country.

On Wednesday, a fierce hurricane and a powerful offshore earthquake struck Central America at the same time.

The events triggered emergency responses in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica together while prompting immediate evacuations.

A storm packing winds of 175 kilometres (110 miles) per hour, Hurricane Otto, hit first, plowing into Nicaragua’s southern Caribbean coast.

Soon after, came the earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.0 and located 120 kilometres off El Salvador in the Pacific Ocean.

No immediate reports of damage or casualties have been reported. However, a tsunami alert was issued for Pacific coasts, and El Salvador.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared a national emergency while US National Hurricane Center warned Otto’s trailing rains “will likely result in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”

Earlier this week, the outer bands of the storm caused the deaths of four people in Panama.