ABC AUA powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake has struck Mexico’s capital and Pacific coast, shaking buildings, shattering windows and sending residents fleeing into the streets.
There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) says the earthquake’s epicentre was 36 kilometres north-west of Tecpan, near the Pacific resort of Acapulco in Guerrero state.
The quake, which the USGS initially rated as magnitude 7.5, struck at a relatively shallow depth of 24 kilometres.
However, the US Pacific Warning Centre says it does not expect the quake to trigger a destructive tsunami.
Buildings were evacuated in the capital, Mexico City, as helicopters checked for damage overhead.
Tourists in Acapulco for Holy Week streamed out of their hotels.
The earthquake was also felt in the eastern state of Veracruz and the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.
Collapsed walls, power outage
Electricity has been cut off in parts of the city but authorities say they are working to restore it in several neighbourhoods.
Some residents living in apartment buildings say paintings fell off the walls, while some buildings received minor interior damage.
“Fortunately, what we have are collapsed walls and no reports of deaths or injuries,” federal civil protection director general Ricardo de la Cruz said.
Many residents of Mexico City were shaken by the quake, one of the biggest to hit the country in several years.
“I had to hold on to a tree, like a drunk,” Pedro Hernandez, a 68-year-old doorman working in central Mexico City, said.
A 30-year-old resident, Angelica Lasso, grabbed a jacket and ran out of the first floor of her three-storey apartment building in the city.
“The furniture moved and my CDs fell from the disc storage tower. I got out quickly and even forgot my house keys,” Ms Lasso said.
The metropolis of 20 million people is sensitive to distant earthquakes because it was built over soft soil from a drained lake.
In 1985, thousands of people were killed in Mexico City when buildings collapsed after an 8.1-magnitude quake struck the Pacific coast.
In Acapulco, 105 kilometres south of Tecpan, visitors fled hotels and jumped out of swimming pools, while rocks fell on Pacific highways.
“The swimming pool was moving. I was afraid for my kids, so I took them out and we left the hotel,” Ulises Yam Loye of central Hidalgo state said.
“It scared us a lot to see the palm trees and lamp posts moving,” he said.
AFP/Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-19/mexico-rattled-by-72-magnitude-earthquake/5399578