Press. voanews.com
Fifty-eight
people have been confirmed dead after a massive earthquake struck southern
Mexico Thursday night, the governor of Oaxaca said Friday. Governor Alejandro
Murat told reporters that 17 of those confirmed dead came from the town of
Juchitan, located near Mexico's southeastern tip. The city was devastated, and
streets were filled with debris. Much of Juchitan's city hall building
collapsed into a pile of rubble. Authorities say the death toll likely will
continue to rise as more information becomes available. The powerful 8.2
magnitude quake struck off Mexico’s far southern Pacific coast just before
midnight Thursday, about 100 kilometers from the town of Tonala. It was the
biggest quake the country has experienced in more than 100 years, Mexico’s
president said.
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Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto said Friday the earthquake toppled houses in
southern Chiapas state and that the earthquake was bigger than a 1985
earthquake in the country that killed thousands. "It was a major
earthquake in scale and magnitude, the strongest in the past 100 years,"
he said. The earthquake triggered a 1.0-meter-high tsunami, according to The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. There were no immediate claims of destruction
caused by the tsunami. Rodrigo
Soberanes, who lives near San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, told the
Associated Press that his "house moved like chewing gum." Chiapas
Governor Manuel Velasco said in a televised interview that "Homes, schools
and hospitals have been affected" by earthquake damage.
The quake was
felt as far away as Mexico City and Guatemala City. Residents of the Mexican
capital fled into the streets, many in their pajamas, for fear buildings would
collapse. "I had never been anywhere where the earth moved so much. At
first I laughed, but when the lights went out I didn't know what to do,"
said Luis Carlos Briceno, an architect, who was visiting Mexico City. "I
nearly fell over." The U.S. Tsunami Warning System initially said the
earthquake was a potential tsunami threat to several Central American
countries, but have since rescinded that warning.
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