Earthquake with 6.5 magnitude rattles southern and central Mexico killing 2

[ad_1] MEXICO CITY — A powerful earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico on Friday, interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum ’s first press briefing of the brand new yr as seismic alarms sounded and leaving at the least two folks useless.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 and its epicenter was close to the city of San Marcos within the southern state of Guerrero close to the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco , in response to Mexico ’s nationwide seismological company. There have been greater than 500 aftershocks.

The state’s civil protection company reported numerous landslides round Acapulco and on different highways within the state.

Guerrero Gov. Evelyn Salgado mentioned {that a} 50-year-old girl residing in a small group close to the epicenter died when her house collapsed. Authorities additionally mentioned {that a} hospital in Chilpancingo, Guerrero’s capital, suffered main structural harm and numerous sufferers had been evacuated.

Residents and vacationers in Mexico Metropolis and Acapulco rushed into the streets when the shaking started. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada mentioned that one individual died after struggling an obvious medical emergency adopted by a fall whereas evacuating a constructing.

The U.S. Geological Survey mentioned the earthquake occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 kilometers), 2.5 miles north-northwest of Rancho Viejo, Guerrero, which is within the mountains about 57 miles northeast of Acapulco.

Sheinbaum resumed her press briefing a short while after the quake.

José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, a health care provider and human rights defender who lives on one of many peaks ringing Acapulco, mentioned he heard a strong rumble noise and all of the neighborhood canine started barking.

“In that second the seismic alert went off on my cellphone,” he mentioned, “after which the shaking started to really feel robust with loads of noise.”

He mentioned the shaking was lighter than in some earlier quakes and he had ready a backpack of necessities to be prepared to depart because the aftershocks continued.

He mentioned he had been unable to achieve some pals who stay alongside the Costa Chica southeast of Acapulco as a result of communications had been lower.