Quake kills 5 in Mexico

A MAJOR earthquake off Mexico’s southern coast killed at least five people, with the president saying yesterday it was the biggest in a century to hit the country.

Houses and at least one hotel toppled, electricity was cut and people fled into the streets in panic.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the earthquake’s magnitude as 8.1 and said it was centered off of Chiapas state near the Guatemalan border. But President Enrique Pena Nieto quoted local calculations it was 8.2, making it the largest in Mexico in 100 years - even larger than the magnitude 8.1 quake in 1985, which killed thousands and devastated large sections of Mexico City.

Officials said at least five people died, but the death toll could rise as authorities assess the damage. The government closed schools in at least 11 states to check them for safety.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded at least 20 aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or greater within about five hours after the main shake, and the president warned that a major aftershock as large as magnitude 7.2 could occur.

Mr Pena Nieto said serious damage had been caused and that 1 million customers initially had been without power following the quake, but that electricity had been restored to 800,000 of them.

The USGS said the quake struck at 11.49pm Thursday local time and its epicenter was 165km west of Tapachula in Chiapas. It had a depth of 69.7 km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of one meter above the tide level were measured off Salina Cruz, Mexico.