As if the threat of Irma wasn’t enough for the West, New Mexico is threatened by an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1. A powerful earthquake struck off the Pacific Coast of Mexico late Thursday, shaking buildings as far away as Mexico City and sending worried residents fleeing into the streets. At least five deaths were reported in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 8.1, according to the United States Geological Survey, and struck about 60 miles southwest of Pijijiapan, off the coast of Chiapas State, near the border with Guatemala.
The quake was felt in the capital, Mexico City, more than 450 miles from the epicenter.
Mexico City’s earthquake alarm sounded, sending people running into the streets, many of them in nightclothes, looking up nervously at shaking trees and swaying power lines.
Waves of as high as a meter, or 3.3 feet, had been observed in Mexico, Tsunami waves of more than 3 meters, or nearly 10 feet, above the tide level are possible along some coasts of Mexico
Zhaira Franco, 35, who works for Facebook in social programming, said she heard an alarm 30 seconds before the earthquake hit her building in Mexico City. The building shook so much that it hit the adjacent building, she said.
The quake also rocked the city’s landmark Angel of Independence monument. A glass door shattered at Mexico City’s main airport, and there were reports of tumbling walls. Helicopters circled over the city to assess damage, but there were no immediate reports of casualties in the city. A hotel in the Pacific state of Oaxaca was evacuated. The ceiling of a shopping mall in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas State, collapsed, littering the floor with debris.
Five aftershocks with a preliminary magnitude 4.9 or stronger hit in the hour following the initial quake, the United States Geological Survey said. A tsunami with the largest wave measuring less than four feet was recorded on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
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