The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7 and centered about 10 miles northeast of Acapulco.
Guerrero state governor Hector Astudillo told Milenio Television on Tuesday night that a person had been killed by a place that fell in the city of Coyuca de Benitez near Acapulco.
“We heard a loud noise from the building, a noise through the windows, things fell inside the house, the power supply was turned off,” Sergio Flores, a resident of Acapulco, said by telephone . “We heard a water leak, the water came out of the pool and you heard people screaming, very nervous people.”
Flores said all he could do when he started shaking was hug his wife. He saw people coming out of hotels around the bay and some running to the car park decks to get their cars out, for fear of a collapse.
“We were all worried about some change at sea, but so far authorities have said nothing about a tsunami alert,” he said.
Astudillo said the tsunami alert center had not recorded any variation in sea level. Later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of potential waves had passed.
The mayor of Acapulco, Adela Román, said in statements to the television news program Milenio that “there is no really serious situation so far” and there are no reports of victims.
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“There are nervous crises; people are worried because there have been aftershocks,” he said, adding that there are “many gas leaks in many places,” as well as some landslides and fallen walls.
Before the first death was reported, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that authorities in the four states most affected by the quake told him there were no casualties or serious damage beyond some of the walls. lapsades and falling rocks.
“Fortunately there is no serious damage,” he said.
Mexico’s National Civil Defense said it was conducting inspections in 10 states, but had not received any reports of casualties or serious damage.
In Mexico City, nearly 200 miles away, the quake shook for nearly a minute in some parts of the capital, but the quake was less evident in other parts. Some people evacuated their buildings briefly, but most quickly returned inside on a rainy night.
“I was at home with my mom and my dogs and the seismic alert started ringing,” said Claudia Guarneros, a makeup artist. “My mother was in another room and I started calling her. The house started moving and in the last part of the earthquake the power supply went out and we couldn’t see anything, we just saw some things falling. “.
Mexico City authorities said there were no early reports of significant damage to the city, although electricity was removed in some neighborhoods. Some broken glass at a great height from the center covered the glass sidewalk.
Arturo Hernández was outside the relatively new apartment building where he moved in just three years ago. Next to it was a taller building abandoned since the magnitude 7.1 earthquake of September 19, 2017, in the neighboring state of Puebla, which caused significant damage to the capital.
Hernandez heard the seismic alarm and turned it off before the ground began to shake. The abandoned building next door continued to shatter and moan for three minutes after the shock stopped, he said. Asked if he had cared about the building next door, damaged, he said, “Always, always.”
Tuesday’s quake occurred four years after the aftermath of a magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck the coasts of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and largely destroyed the city of Juchitan. , in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, and killed dozens.
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