Powerful earthquake strikes Mexico

UPDATE: Search crews pulled four people, including two children, from the rubble of a destroyed hotel in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Friday, offering a rare moment of celebration following the earthquake that rattled the region late Thursday. Officials now say at least 61 people died.

UPDATE (9/08/17, 5:15 p.m.): Mexican officials now say 58 people died when a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck the country’s southern coast. Rescue workers are continuing to dig through rubble in the city of Juchitan, a township of almost 100,000 in Oaxaca state. Many of the town’s buildings, erected 30-50 years ago, collapsed, according to eyewitness accounts.

UPDATE (9/08/17, 11:28 a.m.): At least 32 people have died from injuries suffered during Thursday night’s powerful earthquake along Mexico’s southern coast. Oaxaca state Gov. Alejandro Murat said at least 23 people have died there, while civil defense officials report that at least seven have died in Chiapas. Two children died in Tabasco.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9/08/17, 8:36 a.m.): A powerful earthquake in Mexico has killed at least 15 people and triggered aftershocks and tsunami warnings. Government officials said 10 people died in Oaxaca state, three died in Chiapas, and two children died in Tabasco. One of the children died when a wall collapsed and the other when a hospital ran out of electricity. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the 8.1 magnitude quake struck at 11:49 p.m. local time on Thursday off the country’s southern coast near the Guatemalan border. The quake knocked out power in Mexico City, where buildings swayed violently, causing many residents to run into the streets. In Chiapas state, the quake reportedly damaged schools and hospitals. The USGS has recorded at least 20 aftershocks of magnitude of 4.0 or greater, and President Enrique Pena Nieto said one as strong as 7.2 magnitude could hit the country within the next 24 hours. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has measured waves of a little more than 3 feet above the tide level off the seaport city of Salina Cruz and have observed smaller tsunami waves off the coast. Authorities in coastal town of Puerto Madero in Chiapas are evacuating residents as a precaution. In 1985, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, killing 5,000 people and destroying 10,000 houses.