“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, who works at a public hospital in Tapachula, told The Associated Press.
The cause was a magnitude 7.3 earthquake off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico on Friday, near the border with Guatemala. The US Geological Survey put it near the fishing town of Puerto Madero, at 08:49 local time (14:49 GMT), at a depth of 15.2 km. Another USGS description placed the epicentre 48 kilometres south-west of Aquiles Serdan, off Chiapas. A smaller tremor, slightly farther out to sea, came first.
Authorities in Mexico and Guatemala reported no deaths and no significant damage.
A short tsunami scare
The US Tsunami Warning System warned of possible “hazardous tsunami waves” along the nearby coasts of Mexico and Guatemala. It later recorded waves of 0.3m (1.1 feet) above tide level at Puerto Madero and Chiapas. They lasted 12 minutes at Puerto Madero and 28 minutes at Chiapas. Several hours after the first warning, the centre said the threat had passed, though it urged people in affected areas to “remain observant and exercise normal caution near the sea.”
Mexico’s navy secretary, Admiral Raymundo Morales, told a press conference there was “no serious impact” but that people should keep away from beaches. NOAA forecast waves of less than 0.3m along the coasts of El Salvador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Honduras.
Felt across the region
Oaxaca governor Salomón Jara Cruz said the quake was felt with “moderate intensity.” In Chiapas, the state closest to the epicentre, governor Eduardo Ramírez said there had been no serious impact. He still told his cabinet to suspend administrative activities and urged private firms to do likewise.
In Guatemala and El Salvador, buildings shook, some were evacuated and people ran from their homes, Reuters reported. In Guatemala City the shaking went on long enough to alarm residents, and many ran into the streets as the workday began. In Mexico City, buildings creaked in some areas. The earthquake alert never sounded. The government said “the energy radiated by the earthquake during the first few seconds did not exceed the activation thresholds.”
Aftershocks with magnitudes between 4.7 and 6 followed. One, a magnitude 5.6 quake centred in Quetzaltenango, prompted Guatemala to deploy its emergency management agency. President Bernardo Arévalo said no deaths had been recorded and wrote on X: “I call on the population to remain calm and to follow the recommendations.”
Sources
- Magnitude 7.3 earthquake quake strikes off Mexico coast
- Mexico-Guatemala border quake felt across region, no major damage reported
