A powerful 8.1 magnitude earthquake has hit the south coast of Mexico causing the death of at least 32 people and untold damages to buildings and other infrastructure, setting off tsunami warnings along the Pacific coast.
Mexico President, Enrique Peña Nieto called it the biggest quake in 100 years, even larger than the devastating 1985 temblor in Mexico City that killed thousands. He said 1 million people lost power, but electricity was soon restored for most of them.
In Oaxaca, which lies along the Pacific coast, there have been at least 23 deaths, according to the state governor, Alejandro Murat. Some 17 of the dead were found in the town of Juchitan, where residents put out pleas on social media for help recovering people from the wreckage.
The epicenter of the earthquake was off the coast of Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico, but the rumblings rocked the Mexican capital more than 600 miles away, causing electricity failures and reports of sporadic damage. Many Mexicans were roused from bed by the quake and evacuated their shuddering apartment buildings in pajamas and stocking feet.
The Mexican government ordered schools closed in the capital on Friday so that school infrastructure could be inspected after the quake.
The U.S. warning system said hazardous tsunami waves were possible on the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras within three hours. There was no tsunami threat for the West Coast of the United States, but the warning system said waves could reach Mexico and as far as Ecuador.
