42 million Mexicans feel 7.2-magnitude quake off southern coast

As many as 42 million people living in southern and central Mexico felt the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the region late Friday afternoon, Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) said on Saturday.

The quake, whose epicenter was off the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca, caused no deaths, but sparked anxiety, especially among those still recovering from the fatal temblor that struck the same region in September, killing scores and toppling buildings.

In Mexico City on Friday, residents ran out of apartment buildings, businesses and shops after an early warning system sounded the alarm, giving people about a minute to escape.

At a press conference, Leonardo Ramirez, who is in charge of seismic monitoring at the UNAM's Engineering Institute, said the quake was the severest within a 100-km radius of the epicenter, off the coast of Pinotepa Nacional in southeastern Oaxaca.

In addition to Oaxaca and Mexico City, the quake, which lasted some 60 seconds, also rattled the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan, Puebla and Mexico.

About 200 homes sustained damage, mainly along Oaxaca's Pacific Coast, where 1.3 million households were left without electricity, officials said, adding that electricity had been restored to 97 percent of the area by Saturday morning.

Friday's quake was caused by the Cocos plate slipping beneath the North American plate, said Xyoli Perez, head of Mexico's National Seismological Service (SSN), recalling that the same region has been hit by six major earthquakes in the past five decades.