Magnitude 6.0 Quake Hits Mexico

Mexico City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Oct, 2023) A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Friday night, causing some damage and power outages, officials said.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the National Seismological Service said the epicenter of the quake was in the town of Matias Romero.

Senior regional government official Jesus Romero told journalists no deaths had been reported but the tremor caused damage to stretches of a highway leading to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow stretch of Mexican territory that separates the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.

Damage was also reported in the city of Oaxaca, where a hospital suffered cracked walls and power outages were reported.

A seismic alarm was activated in Mexico City more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) away, where dozens of people evacuated their homes.

The mayor of the capital, home to 9.2 million people, Marti Batres, said on X that "a slight tremor was felt" in the city, adding that "no damage has been reported so far."

Mexico sits in the world's most seismically and volcanically active zone, known as the Ring of Fire, where the Pacific plate meets surrounding tectonic plates.

In September 2017, a 7.1-magnitude quake killed 369 people, the majority in Mexico City. And an 8.1-magnitude quake killed about 10,000 people in 1985.