QUAKE ROCKS MEXICO; DEAD, INJURED RANGE ACROSS WIDE AREA.

Byline: Mark Stevenson Associated Press 

A strong earthquake shook a large swath of central Mexico on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, injuring hundreds, damaging historic buildings and sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing into the streets as buildings swayed.

The earliest reports of significant damage from the quake, measured at a preliminary magnitude-6.7, were from Puebla, 60 miles east of Mexico City.

``First it thundered and shook as if the building was bouncing up and down. Then everything groaned - the walls, the roof. I felt bad, very bad,'' said 63-year old Mercedes Castillo, who fled from her century-old apartment building.

The National Seismological Service said the quake hit at 3:41 p.m. (1:41 p.m. PDT) and was centered near Huajuapan de Leon, about 125 miles southeast of Mexico City and 80 miles south of Puebla.

Puebla state Gov. Melquiades Morales Flores told a news conference late Tuesday that at least 11 people died in the state, two of them in the state capital. He did not specify where all had died. Veracruz state officials said a workman was killed in a rock slide in the town of Huatuzco.

President Ernesto Zedillo declared the state a disaster area and flew to Puebla to see the damage.

``I believe we have been relatively lucky, although we always must regret losses,'' Zedillo told reporters here outside the San Agustin church, whose tower collapsed.

Dr. Alejandro Soto, director of the Puebla city Red Cross, said about 200 people suffered at least minor injuries, with 10 seriously hurt. The government's Notimex news agency reported that thousands of people in various cities were treated for panic attacks.

Army troops patrolled streets littered with plaster and brick fallen from the facades of downtown buildings in Puebla, a city of 1.2 million famed for its colonial architecture.

A backhoe roared in and out of the door of the neo-classic City Hall, filling trucks with stones and other debris from interior ceilings that collapsed.

``We believe, we hope that there is no one in there,'' said City Manager Pericles Olivares, who prowled the streets inspecting damage.

Peering up at an inches-wide crack that snaked through a 10-story concrete office building, Olivares ordered the whole city block evacuated.

In Teposcolula, a few miles south of Huajuapan, the City Hall partially collapsed, two houses fell and the main church was damaged, according to Sergio Hampshire, civil defense director for Oaxaca state, but there were no reports of injuries.

In another town near Huajuapan, Tamazalupam de Progreso, officials said four students at a teaching college were hurt by shattering glass.

Seventy patients were transferred from the Social Security system's quake-damaged Traumatology Hospital to another facility,Notimex reported.

There were no early reports of injuries in the Mexican capital and only scattered reports of damage. But tens of thousands of people fled into the streets as tall buildings seemed to roll like ships at sea and officials were inspecting hundreds of structures for possible damage.

``I felt dizzy and I saw that all the lamps were swinging,'' said Mary Cervantes, a 52-year-old housewife. ``I went running for the door.''

Zedillo canceled a planned trip to the Caribbean coast to fly to Puebla state and assess the damage.

Three cars were knocked across the street in front of the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo, about 115 miles south of Mexico City, said Gustavo Pina of the state civil defense agency.

Streets in Mexico City were crowded with people fearful of returning to buildings.

Mexico's largest recent earthquake, on Sept. 19, 1985, was recorded at magnitude-8.1 and killed at least 9,500 people.

Robert Meli, director of the National Center for Disaster Prevention, told local TV Azteca that Tuesday's quake was ``between five and 10 times smaller than the one in 1985.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo: A man watches out for falling debris after an earthquake collapsed a church tower in Puebla, Mexico.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

Map: Mexico earthquake

Associated Press