Earthquake leaves seven dead in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake has left seven people dead, authorities announced Wednesday, with 23 people reported injured and more than 2,000 buildings damaged.

All the deaths occurred in southern Oaxaca state, where two of the victims were women and five were men, Gov. Alejandro Murat said.

More than 2,000 homes and 59 schools suffered damage in the state, where road traffic was reestablished after nine roads were affected by landslides or other problems, according to the governor.

The quake hit off Oaxaca’s Pacific coast, with its epicenter about 14 miles south of Crucecita, at a depth of 3 miles, at 10:29 a.m. Tuesday.

It was accompanied by more than 1,730 aftershocks, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.5, the National Seismological Service said Wednesday.

The most affected state was Oaxaca, where 21 people were injured, according to civil protection coordinator David Leon.

Murat has requested a state of emergency for 50 municipalities.

But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that such decisions had to be carefully considered, because funds released during states of emergency in Mexico were often used for corrupt purposes.

Leon said that in all of Mexico, more than 20 hospitals suffered minor damage, and that 139 evacuated people were lodged in 12 hostels.

The earthquake had a strong impact in Mexico City, where two people were injured and several buildings evacuated. More than 30 buildings showed damage on their facades.

The quake was also felt in the states of Morelos, Chiapas, Guerrero, Tabasco, Veracruz, Puebla, Michoacan, Tlaxcala and Hidalgo, without causing major damage.

Soldiers were sent to a mountain village in southern Oaxaca, where more people had reportedly been injured.

The quake left 2.7 million households without electricity, but power was almost completely restored Tuesday. Murat said that 4,500 households remained without power in Oaxaca.

On Sept. 19, 2017, a 7.1magnitude earthquake claimed 369 lives in Mexico City and elsewhere in the south and center of the country.

It coincided with the 32nd anniversary of another earthquake, which left 10,000 people dead in 1985 in the Mexican capital.

HUGO GARCIA/EL UNIVERSAL VIA ZUMA WIRE A view of people who evacuated the buildings surrounding the capital’s Zocalo in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, after the earthquake registered with a magnitude of 7.5 around 10:30 a.m. and originating in Oaxaca.