Earthquake of 5.9 magnitude shakes Mexico City

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

2009-05-23 03:39:49

MEXICO CITY, May 22 (Xinhua) -

An earthquake of 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale shook on Friday Mexico City, without reports of victims and damages so far.

The National Seismologic Service (SSN) said that the epicenter was located 26 kilometers south to Chiautla de Tapia municipality in the state of Puebla, center of Mexico.

The earthquake occurred at 2:24 p.m. local time (1924 GMT) and it lasted 15 seconds. It was mainly felt in Tehuacan municipality, Puebla.

Civil Protection Secretariat from Mexico City said that helicopters from the Condor Group flew over Mexico City, and to the moment they have not reported victims or material damages.

People in many buildings in the Historical Center, like the Senate of the Republic, the Public Education Ministry (SEP) and some insurance agencies, were evacuated.

Sources from the SSN said that it was a vibratory and oscillatory earthquake.

Many people told radio station and TV channels that the phone and cell telephony were blocked for several minutes.

Mexico City's Mayor Marcelo Ebrard told reporters that there have not been registered damages at the strategic points of Mexico City, like the System of Collective Transportation (STC) the water and drainage system as well as the electricity service.

Editor: Yan

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.