Mexico’s Earthquake Leaves at Least Two People Dead & on ‘High Alert’ for Tsunami

A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Mexico earlier today is reported to have left at least two people dead, and the region is on ‘high alert’ for a tsunami.

THE earthquake is reported to have caused ‘buildings to sway’ with thousands taking refuge in the street, as reported. One of the victims was killed in a building collapse in Huatulco in Oaxaca, and the other victim was killed in a collapsed house in the mountain village of San Juan Ozolotepec. Apart from two deaths and a few people injured, there was “minor damage,” confirmed Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The earthquake also caused more than 140 aftershocks, revealed the President. Some coastal areas of Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala and central America are now on high alert for a tsunami.

According to the US Geologic Survey (USGS), the earthquake hit Mexico’s southern Pacific coast at around 10:30am – at a depth of 16 miles. The epicentre was seven miles southwest of Santa Maria Zapotitlan in Oaxaca state. The earthquake was felt in Guatemala and throughout southern and central Mexico. The USGS estimated that “some two million people felt strong or moderate shaking and another 49 million felt weak or light shaking.”