Mexico-California border towns shaken after quake

By Lizbeth Diaz and Tim Gaynor

MEXICALI, Mexico (Reuters) - Dozens of aftershocks following a big earthquake rattled the Mexico-Californian border area on Monday as families too scared to return to damaged homes milled around in streets and parks.

Two people died and more than 200 were injured when a 7.2 magnitude quake rocked the area near the border city of Mexicali on Sunday. Baja California Gov. Jose Osuna said the victims were crushed by a collapsed house and a falling wall.

The tremor, felt as far north as Los Angeles, cracked main roads, toppled electricity posts and knocked down an empty multi-storey car park under construction in Mexicali, a prosperous industrial city and busy border crossing.

A pastor in the farming town of Guadalupe Victoria near the quake's epicentre said his church remained standing but cracked down the middle two hours after he finished giving mass.

He and about 40 members of his congregation slept in a soccer field and were shaken by nearly 100 aftershocks.

"We spent the night praying here in the park. There have been constant tremors and no one wants to go back home," said pastor Fernando Lopez.

Broken gas pipes sparked fires on Sunday, and darkened streets in Mexicali caused car accidents, but no major buildings collapsed. Power was mostly re-established on Monday, but some hospitals lay patients out on beds in parking lots due to worries over cracked walls.

Osuna said 3,500 people would be moved to shelters and noted that the full extent of damage in towns south of Mexicali like Vicente Guerrero was not yet known.