A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 shook central and southern Mexico today as people ran into the streets from their extreme panic as windows were breaking and debris falling, there hasn’t been an early report of major damage or any casualties.
It was centered northwest of the Pacific resort of Acapulco according to U.S. Geological Survey; and this is where many Mexican are enjoying their vacation for the Easter holiday.
The earthquake shook for at least 30 seconds and it was felt across at least a half-dozen states and Mexico’s capital. Fallen fences, trees and broken windows have been reported with isolated and minor damage. Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero, the centered point of the quake, reported a power outage, but it was reported that it was restored within 15 minutes.
A family in Acapulco was reported enjoying breakfast with several family members when their hotel began to shake.
“People turned over chairs in a desperate attempt to get out of the hotel as they grabbed their children, tramping people,” a Mexico City woman said. Security at the hotel was great and they started to calm the people down and to get everyone to leave quietly.”
People fled from high rises and took to the streets in their night clothes as the quake struck 170 miles southwest of Mexico City.
Rodolfo Duarte, 32, said, “I started to hear the walls creak and I said, ‘Let’s go,’” as he fled from his third-floor apartment.
Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez Chavez, 45, who is an apartment building guard in Mexico City, made a statement saying, “This is a really strong quake; and I’m accustomed to earthquakes.”
The USGS initially calculated the quake’s magnitude at 7.5, but later downgraded it to a 7.2 magnitude. It said the quake was centered 22 miles (36 kilometers) northwest of the town of Tecpan de Galeana, and was 15 miles (24 kilometers) deep.
It can take time to receive word from the more remote areas near the epicenter in a lot of instances when there is an earthquake in Mexico.
Mexico City is vulnerable itself even when earthquakes are distant because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that quiver as quake waves hit.
A magnitude-8.1 quake of 1985 killed at least 6,000 people and it destroyed many buildings in Mexico City which was centered 250 miles (400 kilometers) away on the Pacific Coast.
Barbara Kasey Smith wrote this article based on an ABC News report.
Source:
ABC News.Com