15/04/2014 18:49
Nicaragua on maximum alert after series of quakes
The authorities in Nicaragua have put the entire country on an "extreme red alert", the highest possible, after the country was hit by a series of tremors, the BBC reported.
Nicaraguans were asked to sleep outdoors as seismologists warned of the possibility of a powerful earthquake rocking the Central American country.
Officials said the recent tremors had reactivated a fault which caused a devastating earthquake in 1972.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 people were killed in the disaster.
First Lady and government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo told citizens "we have to live on constant alert.” She also urged people to sleep under open skies until further notice.
The government agency in charge of disaster preparedness, Sinapred, said it was getting ready for a "catastrophe of major proportions."
Soldiers have been erecting field hospitals and the Red Cross urged people to donate blood to replenish the country's blood banks.
Some people considered to be at high risk either because of their age or because they live in houses at risk of crumbling have been moved to shelters.