Honduras Earthquake Strikes Hours Before OAS Meeting

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — An earthquake shook Honduras hours before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other top officials from Organization of American States members convened Tuesday.

The magnitude-5.0 quake hit at 1:43 a.m. about 11 miles (18 kilometers) east of Olanchito, a town near the Caribbean coast, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Honduras is still recovering from last week's magnitude-7.3 earthquake that killed seven people and caused $100 million in damage.

Clinton mentioned the quake during a breakfast gathering with Caribbean foreign ministers before the general meeting in San Pedro Sula, where the OAS is discussing Cuba's possible re-entry to the 34-nation group.

"Did you feel the earthquake?" she asked, eliciting chuckles around the table. "Very slight, very slight indeed."

The quake was at least the second that Clinton has felt abroad on an official trip since she became secretary of state. One of Japan's frequent minor earthquakes shook her awake in the pre-dawn hours in her 10th floor Tokyo suite in February on her first overseas trip.