A powerful earthquake of 7.1 magnitude struck northeast of an island off Honduras early on Thursday, sending people running into the streets as far away as Guatemala.

A tsunami watch was in effect for countries along the Caribbean Sea coast.

There was no immediate report of damage or injuries.

The quake hit 64 kilometres northeast of Roatan, an island in the Islas de la Bahia, and had a shallow depth, 10 kilometres.

Update 1:

Major quake off Honduras kills one, damages homes

A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Honduras in the early hours of Thursday, killing a teenage boy as it knocked down homes and briefly sparking a tsunami alert for Central America's Caribbean coast.

The quake struck off Honduras' northeast coast near the scuba-diving resort island of Roatan and damaged buildings across the north of the largely impoverished country of some 7 million people.

Emergency services officials said a 15-year-old boy died in the town of La Lima, about 100 miles north of the capital Tegucigalpa, when the ceiling of his house collapsed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54R1ON20090528