A 7.1 magnitude quake hit 64km (39 miles) north-east of Roatan on Honduras' Isles de la Bahia in the Caribbean Sea, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, writes BBC News, Thursday, 28 May 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk.
Forwarded by Budhi Mulyawan 290509.

Tremors were felt in dozens of cities across the region and as far north as Cancun in Mexico.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the danger of a tsunami hitting Belize, Guatemala and Honduras had now passed.

BBC News website readers in Honduras, Belize and Guatemala have been sending their accounts of the earthquake.

My children are nervous because they have never experienced anything like this and they had to spend the night on a golf course

I work as a Christian Aid officer in Honduras and I live in San Pedro Sula. The earthquake shook our house violently and we felt like it was moving from side-to-side. Because things fell over, it was difficult to get to our children's room and outside in the street. My husband had to remove things to be able to go out. We joined the neighbours and went to a golf course nearby as we were afraid of debris falling. We waited there with our candles and torches, it was very dark and the electricity had been cut off. We didn't have any communications and were very afraid of aftershocks.

A young man in our neighbourhood died and many houses collapsed. My house didn't suffer any serious structural damage, apart from some cracks on the walls and a floor that lifted from the shock.

My children are nervous because they have never experienced anything like this and they had to spend the night on a golf course. My organisation is waiting for official information about damages so that we can coordinate the aid effort.
Claudia Herrera, San Pedro Sula

Issa Faraj says his family was very well prepared

The quake woke me up. It was silent, strong, and it felt like it was very long. It surprised me how silent it was. My bed started rocking and I thought it was the dog who jumped on my bed.

Several things were broken. The moment the quake started we lost power, but it returned shortly after.

We had an earthquake back in 1999, although this one was more violent. But this meant all my family members were prepared for it, we all knew what to do. My first instinct was to jump out of bed, stand under my door arch, and start to pray to God.

Thank God no deaths have been reported yet.
Issa Faraj, San Pedro Sula

We live on the top of a hill in a wooden house. The shaking was sufficient to knock everything of surfaces. You could not stand during the quake it was shaking so hard!
Chas Watkins, West Bay, Roatan

We are all still awake after feeling the strongest tremors we ever have, grabbing our children and heading outside. We've felt at least four 'aftershocks' of small scale. The whole island is moving about even though it happened some hours ago. People are concerned about the tsunami warning.
Julie Shigetomi, Utila

I was still working when I felt the ground start to shake. The islands are on the biggest alert. People are calm. Some are outside and some are already sleeping again. I felt some tremors around 4:30 but they were very light. My blessings for the people in Honduras.
Marco de Leeuw van Weenen, La Ceiba

We felt a very strong tremor, we live on the beach in the city of La Ceiba. Our biggest worry now is about a possible tsunami.
Esteban Laitano, La Ceiba

It was shocking, all the people in my neighbourhood ran into open space in their pyjamas.
Bayron Rios, Comayagua

Phillipe Brisebois says it's the strongest quake he has felt

I am Canadian, I have been living in Belize for the last two years. I worked as an operations manager for a resort in the village but I have now started my own company.

The tremor was violent and lasted for around 50 seconds. I have travelled a lot and never felt such a strong earthquake in my life.

The villagers all went out into the street. My neighbour, who is around 60-years-old, said it was the strongest earthquake she has ever felt.

I am following the news on the local radio. At present time four villages have requested help because some structures collapsed, including a village water tank.
Philippe Brisebois, Hopkins Village

We live directly west, about 180 miles away from the reported epicentre North East of Roatan, Honduras. The quake rolled like a large wave under our house and was followed by shaking. The shake subsided and then started again.

The whole experience felt as if it lasted almost a minute. My husband and I leapt out of bed, grabbed our baby and young son and ran outside. Now the firetruck's sirens can be heard as we are being asked to evacuate as part of a tsunami watch.
Rachel Graham, Punta Gorda

As I lay asleep in my house a horrible shaking and swaying of my house started and increased rapidly. I tried to get out of my bed and stand up as my father yelled for us to get up and out of the swaying house.

It lasted for about two minutes and I swore that the house was going to fall flat, luckily it didn't. However the water tank/tower went crumbling down into pieces. This entire experience was a very horrible and terrifying one. Now we are on a tsunami watch since we are on the southern coast of Belize near the Honduras and Guatemalan borders. We are kind of back to normal but everyone in the village including myself are all shook up and can't go back to sleep.
Luis Manuel Sosa, Independence Village

We are in Belmopan the capital city of Belize. We are 50 miles from the coast. Here we were woken from sleep by the rattling of windows and the rocking of the bed. I am in a concrete bungalow and the entire house shook. The bed was rocking like a hammock.
John K. Jones, Belmopan

We were woken by the strong shaking of the house. We didn't know what exactly was going on. When we realised it was an earthquake, I called my sister, who said that the neighbours were outside, and that picture frames, cameras, and a few other things had fallen off the wall. My aunt mentioned that they heard the door shaking and thought that someone was breaking into the house! The government is doing a wonderful job as they are passing by streets waking up everyone by means of the sirens on ambulances, fire engines, and the police.
Mindy, Belize City

Our bed started to shake really hard and then the entire house, which is a bungalow structure, shook too. Then the items in my closet started to fall and we realize there must be a earthquake in the region. The shake was really scary because it was longer and stronger than normal, about one minute.
Verla Neal, Belize City

The earthquake was felt for about 45 seconds. There is no damage in the city although people ran into the streets in panic. Relatives in Belmopan, Belize also felt it. Calls from there prove that international phone lines are available - but call traffic is heavy. I am trying to contact friends on Roatan, it is proving difficult.
MD, Guatemala City

This early morning while studying, I felt my apartment starting to move, the furniture, the roof making noises and dogs barking. Then my friends from Belize came online, telling me about their terrifying experience. It was scary.
Emelio Perrera, Guatemala City

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