Five dead as magnitude 8.4 earthquake rocks Mexico

MEXICO: At least five people, including two children in Tabasco state, have died in a powerful earthquake that rocked southern Mexico overnight on Thursday, the government said.

The two fatalities came in the southern state of Chiapas, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said. The quake hit off the coast of Chiapas.

The interior ministry said the quake had a magnitude of 8.4, while the US Geological Survey put it at a revised 8.4, up from 8.0 initially.

People in Mexico City ran out into the streets after the quake struck, a Reuters witness said.

Its epicentre was 123 km (76 miles) southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 33 km (21 miles). There were no immediate reports of major damage.

Mexico’s civil protection agency said it was the strongest earthquake to hit the country since a devastating 1985 tremor that toppled buildings and killed thousands.

Widespread, hazardous tsunami waves were possible, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

The Centre advised the public that tsunami waves could hit within three hours off the coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and even Ecuador.

“I had never been anywhere where the earth moved so much. At first I laughed, but when the lights went out I didn’t know what to do. I nearly fell over,” said Luis Carlos Briceno, an architect, 31, who was visiting Mexico City.

It was a particularly shallow quake, according to Jana Pursely, a geophysicists at the USGS. “The shaking along the coast of Chiapas state, next to the border with Guatemala, at this point is estimated to be very strong to severe,” Pursely told CNN. “I would expect damage along the coast of Chiapas.”

Pursely said these types of shallow earthquakes with long shaking have the potential to be very dangerous. She also said there will likely be aftershocks.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted: “Civil protection protocols are activated, including the National Emergency Committee.”

Mexico is currently also being threatened on its eastern coast by Hurricane Katia. The category 1 hurricane is about 300 km south-east of Tampico and has sustained winds of 140km/h. according to the US National Hurricane Centre. - HINDUSTAN TIMES