DHAKA: A deadly magnitude 8.1 earthquake-struck off of the southern coast of Mexico early Friday (September 8) — raising fears of a tsunami, reports New York Post.
The US Geological Survey reported that the powerful temblor struck 20 miles under the Pacific near Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
At least two people were reported killed in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, government officials said.
Meanwhile, US forecasters said “hazardous” tsunami waves of more than nine feet above the tide level were possible along the Mexican coast.
They also predicted that tsunamis of up to three feet could hit as far away as American Samoa, New Zealand and Antarctica.
The tremors were so severe that people in Mexico City, over 500 miles away, fled shaking buildings in their pajamas.
Witnesses in Mexico City described the ground shaking for a full 45 seconds.
“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,” Luis Carlos Briceno, 31, an architect who is visiting Mexico City, told Reuters.
Mexico’s civil protection agency said it was the strongest earthquake to hit the capital since a devastating 1985 tremor that flattened swathes of Mexico City and killed thousands.
There were no immediate reports of major damage in the capital but windows were broken at the airport and power went out in several major neighborhoods.
At least five aftershocks were reported. The quake knocked out power throughout southern Mexico.
In Chiapas, where deaths were reported, residents described heavy shaking.
“The house moved like chewing gum and the light and internet went out momentarily,” said Rodrigo Soberanes, who lives near San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, a poor, largely indigenous state popular with tourists.
Chiapas Gov. Manuel Velasco told television station Televisa the rooves of homes and a shopping center had collapsed in San Cristobal.
“There are damages in hospitals that have lost energy,” he said.
“Homes, schools and hospitals have been affected.”
Civil Defense in Chiapas said on its Twitter account that its personnel were in the streets aiding people and warned residents to prepare for aftershocks.
BDST: 1308 HRS, SEP 8, 2017
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