Mexico’s strongest quake in century kills 27

A collapsed building in the town of Matias Romero in Oaxaca state

An earthquake described by Mexico’s president as the country’s strongest in a century has struck off the southern coast, killing at least 27 people.

The quake, which President Enrique Peña Nieto said measured 8.2, struck in the Pacific, about 87km (54 miles) south-west of Pijijiapan.

A tsunami warning was issued for Mexico, with three-metre-high waves possible, and other nearby countries.

Severe damage has been reported in Oaxaca and Chiapas states.

The quake, which struck at 23:50 local time on Thursday (04:50 GMT Friday), was felt in Mexico City, with buildings swaying and people running into the street.

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The tremors there, about 1,000km from the epicentre, were reported to have lasted up to a minute.

President Peña Nieto said some 50 million Mexicans would have felt the tremor and that the death toll might rise.

Twenty people are reported dead in Mexico’s Oaxaca state, 17 of them in the town of Juchitán, state Governor Alejandro Murat said.

Another four people were reported killed in Chiapas and two children died in Tabasco state, one a baby who died when power was cut to a respirator.

One person also died in Guatemala, its president has said.

Social media images showed collapsed buildings in Oaxaca, including in the city of the same name and in Juchitán, where the municipal palace and a number of other structures were levelled.

Local reports speak of a hospital in Juchitán also collapsing.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said that tsunami waves “reaching more than three metres above the tide level are possible along
the coasts of Mexico”.

There is a coastal evacuation in Chiapas state, where a state of emergency has been declared.

The PTWC warned of tsunami threats for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, but at lower wave levels.

At magnitude 8.2, the quake outstrips the deadly 1985 tremor that hit close to Mexico City and caused thousands of deaths.

The US Geological Survey measured the latest quake slightly lower, at 8.1, saying it struck at a depth of 70km.

More than a dozen aftershocks ranging from 4.3 to 5.7 in magnitude have been recorded closer to the Mexican coast.

Mr Peña Nieto warned there might be more.

He also said the Salina Cruz refinery on the southern coast had temporarily suspended operations.

Schools have been closed in 11 Mexican states.

Some electricity cuts have been reported in the capital and social media video showed lampposts and the famous Angel of Independence statue swaying violently, but there are no reports of major damage there.

Journalist Franc Contreras, who is in Mexico City, told the BBC: “You could hear loud cracks in the concrete. It sounded like a giant wooden branch being just broken open violently.