Add Category
Updated
A prolonged 7.2 magnitude quake has rocked Mexico and left nearly a million homes and businesses without power in the capital and south but the only reported deaths came when a military helicopter crashed after surveying the aftermath.
There were no preliminary reports of fatalities.
The epicentre was close to a resort on the Pacific coast in Oaxaca and had a depth of 24.6 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey.
Both the south of Mexico and the capital are still reeling from earthquakes that caused widespread damage in September.
At least two people died when a helicopter carrying Mexico's Interior Minister and the Governor of Oaxaca crashed while trying to land after a tour of damage from the earthquake, officials said. The senior officials survived.
Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete said Friday's quake caused some superficial damage to buildings in Oaxaca, but no deaths from the quake had been reported.
Images in the media appeared to show bricks and rubble fallen from buildings, and products tumbling off shelves in a supermarket.
Tremors were felt as far away as Guatemala to the south.
In Mexico City, tall buildings swayed for more than a minute as seismic alarms sounded, with older structures in the chic Condesa neighbourhood knocking into each other, and some cracks appearing in plaster and paintwork.
Two young men standing by a building that collapsed in a September 9 earthquake were still hugging minutes after the tremor.
Australian teacher Benjamin Reid, who is working at an international school in Mexico City, said he was running up the stairs of his 10-storey apartment building when the tremors struck and he initially dismissed them as dizziness from the exercise.
He said he was alerted to the earthquake when he saw his neighbours running out of their homes and a warning appeared on his phone.
"It was fierce for a while — about 20 seconds — then calmed," Mr Reid, who felt last year's massive earthquake, said.
"The Government advised people to stay indoors, so most people headed out for a bit, heard the news and came back in.
"The alarms went off, the all clear announcements were made and life went back as usual."
People crowded in the streets, one lady in her pyjamas.
Trees, overhead cables and cars swayed, and a fire truck raced down the street.
Patricia Gutierrez, a 66-year-old English teacher, was taking a nap with her 11-month-old granddaughter, Juliet, when she heard the alarm.
"She recognised the sound. When I opened my eyes, I saw her eyes in terror. Her eyes were wide, like plates. She didn't say anything," Gutierrez said of her granddaughter.
Ms Gutierrez managed to leave her ground-floor apartment before the quake began.
"I left the phone and everything except for my shoes and the baby," she said.
Guadalupe Martinez, a 64-year-old retiree, said she was still shaking from shock.
But the quake was a far cry from the tremors that struck Mexico in September, Ms Martinez said.
"This time it was strong, but it did not jump up and down," she said.
Reuters
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, earthquake, mexico
First posted