Major Earthquake Hits South of Mexico City

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit Oaxaca, Mexico (southeast of Mexico City) on Friday afternoon.

The United States Geological Survey updated the earthquake’s reading to 7.5 to 7.2 on the Richter Scale with a depth of 24.6 kilometers

According to NBC reporter Janelle Wang, the earthquake’s epicenter was pinpointed northeast of the town of Pinotepa de Don Luis. While the town is only a couple of hours away from the Pacific Ocean, there is reportedly no threat of a tsunami as a result of the quake.

According to the Associated Press, the quake was powerful enough to be felt in the country’s capital of Mexico City, forcing many building to evacuate.

Governor Alejandro Murant reported on Twitter that the damages are being evaluated, though thankfully no deaths have been reported as a result of the earthquake.

“(In Spanish) I find myself in the #C4 city of [Oaxaca] receiving information. So far no human losses are reported, we continue to evaluate the severity of damage,” Murant wrote.

Photographer Peter Aronson said the city’s warning system gave citizens advance notice of the quake.

“Thanks to Mexico City’s advance warning system, we had somewhere between 20-30 seconds’ warning BEFORE the earthquake hit here,” Aronson wrote in a tweet. “And this time, everyone took the warning seriously and went outside.”

The quake comes less than a year removed from the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit back on Sept. 19, causing damage in central Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos and destroying more than 40 buildings in Mexico City, resulting in 370 casualties and 6,011 injuries.