A powerful earthquake struck the southern Mexican Pacific coast on Friday, prompting residents to evacuate buildings in neighbouring Guatemala and El Salvador – and triggering an alert from the US Tsunami Warning System that was later lifted. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico and parts of Central America on Friday, seismologists said, with a tsunami alert briefly issued for a stretch of the Pacific coast.
Residents felt intense tremors in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca as well as in Guatemala and El Salvador, AFP journalists confirmed. Authorities have not yet reported any victims.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake's epicentre was located offshore some 48 kilometres (30 miles) from the town of Aquiles Serdan, at a depth of 18 kilometres.
The Mexican seismological service recorded more than 30 aftershocks of various magnitudes, measuring as high as 6.8.
The US government issued a tsunami warning for Pacific coastal areas of Mexico and Guatemala, but later said the threat had passed.
In Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital of Chiapas, there were scenes of panic in the few tall buildings of the city, according to an AFP journalist in the area.
"It feels horrible up there," Araceli Sanchez, a government employee who was in a 15-story building, told AFP.
"There were people who cried," she added after fleeing down the emergency stairs.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had spoken to the governors of the affected states, while Navy Secretary Raymundo Morales told reporters: "There are no serious effects."
In Guatemala City, multiple buildings were evacuated and classes were canceled in some areas closest to the Mexican border.
"I got really scared and it reminded me of the recent earthquake in Venezuela. So I ran out and went down the stairs because I live on the eighth floor. The shaking wouldn't stop," Alexander Valdez, a 29-year-old accountant, told Reuters in Guatemala City.
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Adolfo Zacarias, a 43-year-old customer service worker who lives on the third floor of his building, said he sought shelter under a structural column as the shaking began.
"I think the memories of what recently happened in Venezuela came back to us and that scared us a lot," Zacarias said.
Venezuela is still reeling from twin earthquakes that struck the country on June 24, when magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors hit within less than a minute of each other in the north-central region, toppling buildings in Caracas and nearby coastal areas and triggering a prolonged rescue and relief effort.
Mexico City, hard-hit by two powerful earthquakes in 1985 and 2017, is more than 800 kilometers from the epicentre, though some reported on social media that they had felt it.
Some tall buildings were evacuated as a precaution.
Mexico and Central America are located on different tectonic plates whose movements have turned the region into one of the most earthquake-prone in the world.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)
