Parts of Mexico shook under the effect of a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that left at least six dead and many injured. It happened in the morning and thousands of people left their homes and fled outdoors. They felt safe under the open sky. The quake centered near the resort of Huatulco and parts of southern and central Mexico were in the tremor zone. It centered along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca as revealed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat has said to a section of the media that some buildings collapsed in the coastal resort town of La Crucecita, the epicenter of the earthquake.

A local official mentioned about damages to about 200 houses in the area. An earthquake is an unpredictable natural disaster. There are methods to forecast a possible quake but not the exact location where it could strike. Obviously, it is not possible to take any prior action except raising an alert. Such an event invariably leads to loss of properties and lives and damages to infrastructure.

NBC News says that Gov. Alejandro Murat confirmed death of an elderly man in a house collapse in a mountainous village. Some others suffered injuries. Another person lost his life when a fence fell on him. There was the case of injures to a man from Iztapalapa. He came under a high voltage cable. There have been as many as 447 aftershocks as indicated by the civil protection agency.

Major damages from the earthquake

One of the oil refineries burst into flames. It was a state-owned petroleum company and it was possible to extinguish the fire but one person was injured and he died in hospital. In another incident, a hospital meant exclusively for COVID-19 patients was damaged necessitating evacuation of inmates.

The seismic alarm sounded in Mexico City was a warning to people of possible dangers. They immediately ran into the open once tremors shook the buildings. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, speaking to the media, confirmed about many buildings in the capital that suffered damages. These included government buildings. López Obrador, president of Mexico, said - "We will continue to call on people to act with precaution due to possible aftershocks.

Let's take care of ourselves without anguish or despair."

NBC News goes on to add that the seismic alarms sounded at midmorning. It provided adequate warning to residents to leave their buildings, and seek shelter elsewhere. There were reports of power loss in some areas. Equipment that operate on Renewable Energy are useful in such cases. Telephone connections were also down in a few places. As per estimates of the U.S. Geological Survey USGS, millions felt the tremors of various intensities.

Mexico City felt tremors of the earthquake

According to CNN, the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit the southern coast of Mexico led to building collapses and evacuation of people from danger zones. Tremors were felt as far as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

It included Mexico City, located nearly 190 miles north of the epicenter. There were Tsunami waves of 2.2 ft in Acapulco and 2.3 ft in Salina Cru. The USGS puts the damage in Oaxaca State as light to moderate. It says recent earthquakes in the area have resulted in secondary hazards like tsunamis and landslides.

Earthquake is not new to Mexico

Mexico is one of the world's most seismically active regions. It has a long history of earthquakes attributed to the location of the country with respect to tectonic plates. In 2017, it faced two earthquakes within two weeks. The result was toppled buildings, cracked highways and death toll in hundreds of people. A few earthquakes of recent times are as follows.

In 2016, there was an earthquake in Fukushima, it was an aftershock from the devastating 2011 quake in Japan. Later in 2018, Alaska witnessed a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. It prompted a tsunami warning. More recently, in 2019 an earthquake hit southern California.
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