A magnitude 6.1 earthquake and a series of aftershocks rattled the northwestern coast of Nicaragua late Thursday.
The U.S. Geological Survey detected a quake with a depth of 6.2 miles after 9 p.m. local time. Its epicenter was 10.6 miles east of Puerto Morazan, Nicaragua, 70.8 miles northwest of the capital,Managua.
Minutes later, a series of aftershocks followed: first a 5.1 magnitude quake, then a 4.8 and a 4.6, according to the USGS.
The newspaper La Prensa reported that the walls of a church had collapsed in the nearby city of Chinandega, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Authorities are looking to assess the damage in one of the cities closest to the epicenter, El Viejo, government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo told newspaper La Prensa.
"The earthquake was practically felt throughout the entire country," she told La Prensa in Spanish. "It was an enormous, unusually strong quake."
Contributing: The Associated Press.