A strong earthquake struck the southern Mexican Pacific coast on Friday, right on the border with Guatemala, and was felt from Mexico City to El Salvador. Authorities did not report any severe damage or casualties in either country. Two people were reported injured in southern Mexico.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.3 with the epicenter 30 miles southwest of Aquiles Serdan, near the coast of Chiapas, and at a depth of 9 miles. It was preceded by a smaller quake with an epicenter a bit farther out in the ocean.
There were at least 10 aftershocks between magnitude 4.9 and 6, according to USGS.
In Tapachula, the main city on Mexico’s southern border, the tremor began mildly but gradually intensified.
“We were upstairs on the second floor when it started shaking; we thought it would pass, but then it got stronger, so we all went downstairs and evacuated in an orderly manner to the front courtyard,” Alejandra Mendoza, an administrative employee at a public hospital in the city, explained to The Associated Press.
Demetrio Martínez, head of the city’s Civil Protection agency, said a Haitian migrant woman in her 30s suffered a nervous breakdown and jumped from a height of about 13 feet from an apartment building. She was taken to a hospital with fractures, but her life is not in danger, the official added. He said there was another minor injury from a broken window at a nearby business.
Jose Cabezas / REUTERS
In Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital of Chiapas, there were scenes of panic in the few tall buildings of the city, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist in the area.
“It feels horrible up there,” Araceli Sanchez, a government employee who was in a 15-story building, told AFP.
“There were people who cried,” she added after fleeing down the emergency stairs.
In Guatemala City, the earthquake frightened residents because of how long it lasted. Many people poured into the streets in the middle of rush hour as the workday was beginning.
Guatemala’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction reported no immediate damage. Social media users posted videos of some landslides, especially on roads heading west.
The Ministry of Education suspended in-person classes in the departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Suchitepéquez and Retalhuleu, near the quake’s epicenter.
In the Mexican capital, where buildings in certain areas creaked and shook, the earthquake alert did not sound because, the government said, “the energy radiated by the earthquake during the first few seconds did not exceed the activation thresholds.”
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System initially warned that hazardous tsunami waves were possible along coasts located within 186 miles of the epicenter but later said the threat had passed.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that preliminary reports showed no damage. The navy recommended staying away from beaches for six hours because of the tsunami risk.
The Meteorological Service of Chiapas initially alerted that there could be tsunami waves up to 3.3 feet off the coast of Mexico and Guatemala.
In the town of Suchiate, located along the river that separates Mexico from Guatemala, coastal areas are being monitored for tsunami risk, according to Mayor Elmer Vázquez Gallardo.
In San Salvador, the earthquake was also felt strongly, but no deaths or damage were reported, although the Ministry of Environment reported another earthquake of lesser intensity off the coast of the department of Usulután, in the eastern part of the country.
The region is prone to earthquakes, many of which can be deadly. Earlier this year, a strong earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico, killing two. Hundreds in Mexico City were killed in a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2017.
Friday’s earthquake comes as Venezuela is struggling to get back on its feet after twin tremors on June 24 killed over 4,800 people and caused hundreds of buildings in the coastal state of La Guaira to crumble.