GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - With food and water running out, governments in Central America and Mexico scrambled yesterday to reach isolated areas devastated by a week of intense rains and residents who spoke to reporters via cell phone said panic was starting to grow among survivors.

Mudslides and flooding have left 258 people dead across the region. Guatemala has borne the brunt of heavy rains exacerbated by Hurricane Stan, which made landfall Tuesday in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz before quickly weakening into a tropical depression.

Increasing fears yesterday was a preliminary-magnitude 5.8 earthquake that shuddered through both Guatemala and El Salvador, collapsing a rain-damaged highway bridge in the former country and sending thousands of frightened Salvadoran residents into the streets.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the quake. Telephone service was cut off briefly in some areas of El Salvador, and Interior Minister Rene Figueroa urged residents to obey evacuation orders for high-risk areas.

The quake also forced officials to suspend their search for two coffee workers missing since Saturday when the Ilamatepec volcano erupted about 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of the capital, San Salvador.

Authorities warned the volcano, 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of San Salvador, could explode again.

The temblor struck before residents had even begun to recover from the five days of heavy rains.

"We need food, clothing, medicine and help," said Lucas Ajpus, a former firefighter coordinating rescue efforts in Santiago Atitlan, the Guatemalan city near landslides that hit four villages.

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