Reports reaching the State Department and the Guatemalan Embassy here today indicated that the Jewish community and Jewish institutions in Guatemala City did not suffer casualties or any serious damage from the severe earthquake that struck that city this morning. According to initial reports, 30 persons were killed and 500 injured in the quake.
Most of Guatemala’s 1500 Jews live in Guatemala City, the capital of the Central American country. The Jewish structure closest to the area of most severe damage is the Sephardic synagogue located less than a half mile from the National Palace and the National Cathedral.
According to the Guatemalan Embassy, neither of those structures was damaged and it is presumed that the synagogue remained unscathed. The Ashkenazic synagogue and a Reform congregation along with a Jewish school are located in the northern part of the city which was not affected by the earth-quake. It was recalled here that the 130-member Jewish community of Managua. Nicaragua was hard hit when an earthquake struck there three years ago.
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