Earthquake of magnitude 6.4 strikes Mexico-Guatemala border

A powerful earthquake shook the border of Mexico and Guatemala early Sunday, driving frightened residents into the streets.

The temblor struck simply earlier than 6 a.m. close to the Mexican border city of Suchiate, the place a river by the identical identify divides the 2 nations. (Consultant file picture)

The temblor struck simply earlier than 6 a.m. close to the Mexican border city of Suchiate, the place a river by the identical identify divides the 2 nations. The epicenter was simply off the Pacific coast, 10 miles (16 kilometers) west-southwest of Brisas Barra de Suchiate, the place the river empties into the ocean.

The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, in response to the U.S. Geological Survey and a depth of 47 miles (75 kilometers).

Throughout the border Guatemala’s nationwide catastrophe prevention company shared photographs of small landslides onto highways within the Quetzaltenango area and huge cracks in partitions in a hospital in San Marcos on its social media accounts, however there have been no stories of deaths.

In Tapachula, close to the border, civil protection brigades had been transferring by means of the town searching for indicators of injury.

Didier Solares, an official with Suchiate’s Civil Protection company, mentioned to date that they had not discovered injury.

“Fortunately, every thing is nice,” Solares mentioned. “We’re speaking with corporations, to the (rural areas) through radio and there is nothing, there is no injury thank God,” he mentioned.

The early morning quake nonetheless gave individuals a fright.

Within the mountainous and picturesque colonial metropolis of San Cristobal, the shaking was sturdy.

“Right here we acquired up as a result of we’ve the seismic alert service,” mentioned resident Joaquin Morales. “The alert woke me up as a result of it comes 30 seconds earlier than (the quake).”

Later Sunday, there was a swarm of no less than two dozen small earthquakes in Mexico’s northern state of Baja California, close to the U.S. border. The biggest of the quakes was of 4.6 magnitude, whereas the bulk had been between between 2.5 and three.7.

No quick injury was reported within the sparsely populated area roughly 30 miles ( 50 kilometers) south of a comparatively unpopulated space south of El Centro, California.

They didn’t seem associated to the quake in Suchiate, which is sort of 2,330 miles (3,750 kilometers) to the southeast.