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Magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolts southeastern Mexico

Posted at 8:01 PM, Feb 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-16 22:04:27-05

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southeastern Mexico on Friday night, with the epicenter in the state of Oaxaca, the US Geological Survey reported.

Emergency authorities in the Oaxaca reported “only material damage and no loss of human life” during the earthquake.

In Mexico City, where more than 200 people died in a large earthquake last fall, people streamed out of shaking buildings and into the streets. Video showed ceiling lamps swaying and people embracing after evacuating buildings.

A woman embraces a boy during a powerful earthquake in Mexico City on February 16, 2018.
Mexico’s National Seismological Service put the magnitude of the quake at 7.0, and seismic monitor network Sky Alert said the quake was felt across the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla. / AFP PHOTO / YURI CORTEZ (Photo credit should read YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

There were no immediate reports of injuries in Mexico City, which is about 348 kilometers (216 miles) away from the epicenter of the earthquake.

The USGS initially reported a magnitude of 7.5 but revised it downward. Later Friday, a magnitude 5.8 aftershock hit Oaxaca, the USGS tweeted.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that “based on all available data … there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake.”

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto tweeted that the earthquake was northeast of Pinotepa Nacional, in Oaxaca, and that “protocols have been activated.”

Two deadly earthquakes struck Mexico in September.

A magnitude-8.1 earthquake struck off the southern coast on September 8, killing at least 90. On September 19, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Mexico City, killing at least 216 people.