October 11, 1986

A strong earthquake and a series of aftershocks hit the Salvadoran capital this morning, causing extensive damage in the center of the city and killing at least 100 people. Casualty figures were not precise because rescue workers had not yet dug through a number of damaged buildings. At least one large office building in the center of the city was destroyed. Strong tremors continued throughout the afternoon, sending inhabitants of the capital into the streets, where they remained tonight, sleeping in makeshift shelters. [ Radio Cuscatlan, a station monitored in neighboring Honduras, said about 45 people were known dead, including at least 30 youths whose bodies were found in two schools, and another radio station, YSU, said more than 150 people were killed in the collapse of the 10-story Ruben Dario theater building, The Associated Press reported. Neither report could be confirmed immediately. ] [ Doctors said about 50 children died at the Bloom Children's Hospital and an undetermined number of people were trapped beneath the rubble, according to United Press International. The news agency said President Jose Napoleon Duarte had declared a state of national emergency and pleaded for ''tranquillity'' among Salvadorans. ] Emergency clinics were set up on street corners, but communication was cut in most of the capital and electricity was available in only a few neighborhoods.

Samuel H. Armacost, whose tenure at the helm of the BankAmerica Corporation has been marked by turmoil and huge losses, will resign this weekend, the banking company announced today. As Mr. Armacost's replacement, banking sources said, the board of directors is expected to name A. W. Clausen, the president of the World Bank until last June and the chief of BankAmerica until Mr. Armacost took over five years ago. The board is to meet on Sunday. Industry sources said directors had forced Mr. Armacost's resignation as president and chief executive officer. The sources said the directors had become convinced that a change was needed to restore the health of the nation's second-largest banking company and the confidence of customers and investors. Citicorp, based in New York, is the nation's largest banking institution.

President Reagan will offer a two-stage proposal on nuclear test curbs when he meets with Mikhail S. Gorbachev this weekend, the White House announced today. The plan, however, seems to fall short of the Soviet leader's call for an immediate and total ban on all atomic tests. The latest Administration approach was a result of bargaining with the House leadership over the foreign policy provisions in a pending defense bill. The House had included provisions that would have had the effect of compelling the President to go along with the Soviet moratorium on nuclear testing. The plan announced today indicated that the President avoided having to agree to a moratorium.

After a two-year delay, House and Senate conferees agreed today to renew the Clean Water Act and called for $18 billion for sewage treatment over the next eight years. The legislation also authorizes several new programs to curb pollution in the nation's waters, including controls on runoff from farm land and city streets for the first time. Previously, the law imposed controls only on pollution entering water sources from specific points, such as municipal sewage treatment plants and factories. But the drainage or pouring of agricultural chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants into waterways has also been a major source of contamination.

Geoffrey G. Lindenauer testified today that Donald R. Manes, the former Queens Borough President, had told him he was planning to run for mayor and that if elected ''he would really show me how to make money.'' Mr. Lindenauer, the former deputy director of the Parking Violations Bureau, said Mr. Manes had told him of his mayoral aspirations during a conversation in which Mr. Lindenauer said he wanted to leave the parking bureau. Mr. Lindenauer said he told Mr. Manes he wanted to ''go into business'' to allow them to launder some of the bribe money they had received. Mr. Manes committed suicide last March as allegations of his role in the city's scandal began to surface. Final Day on Stand ''Donald said he planned to run for mayor - he had a lot of resources -and then I would see how to really make money,'' Mr. Lindenauer said. ''He said that after running for Governor he had learned a great deal. He knew a great deal of moneyed people.'' Mr. Manes ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1974, and before the parking scandal broke had discussed the idea of running for mayor in 1989 with a variety of politicians, political consultants and staff members.