Magnitude-7.2 Earthquake Hits a Mexico Still on Edge

There were no reports of damage in the immediate aftermath
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 16, 2018 7:15 PM CST
Magnitude-7.2 Earthquake Slams South, Central Mexico
People stands in the street as an earthquake shakes Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake has shaken south and central Mexico, causing people to flee buildings and office towers in the country's capital, and setting off quake alert systems.   (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)

A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago, the AP reports. Crowds of people gathered on Mexico City's central Reforma Avenue, as well as on streets in Oaxaca state's capital nearer the quake's epicenter. "It was awful," said Mercedes Rojas Huerta, 57, who was sitting on a bench outside her home in Mexico City's trendy Condesa district, too frightened to go back inside. "It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do?" She said she was still scared thinking of the Sept. 19 earthquake that left 228 people dead in the capital and 369 across the region. Many buildings in Mexico City are still damaged from that quake.

Mexican Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Fuente tweeted that there were no immediate reports of damages from Friday's quake. The US Geological Survey put its preliminary magnitude at 7.2 and said its epicenter was 33 miles northeast of Pinotepa in Oaxaca state. It had a depth of 15 miles. The epicenter is a rural area of western Oaxaca state near the Pacific coast and the border with Guerrero state. The Oaxaca state civil protection agency said via Twitter that it was monitoring the coastline.

(More earthquake stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X