Mexico Earthquake: Felt In Mexico City, Centered Near Chilpancingo

MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake struck central Mexico on Monday, swaying tall buildings in the capital and rattling nerves in a city already tense from a swine flu outbreak suspected of killing as many as 149 people nationwide

Near the epicenter in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, two women aged 67 and 75 died of heart attacks during or shortly after the earthquake, and four homes and a perimeter wall collapsed in and around the resort of Acapulco, state police reported.

"I'm scared," said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her Mexico City office building moments after it hit. "We Mexicans are not used to living with so much fear, but all that is happening _ the economic crisis, the illnesses and now this _ it feels like the Apocalypse."

Co-worker Harold Gutierrez, 21, said the country was taking comfort from its religious faith, but he too was gripped by the sensation that the world might be coming to an end.

"If it is, it is God's plan," Gutierrez said, speaking over a green mask he wore to ward off swine flu.

There were no reports of injuries or major damages in Mexico City.

The quake had a magnitude of 5.6 and was centered near Chilpancingo, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of Mexico City or 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Acapulco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Tourists also streamed out of hotels in Acapulco and congregated on sidewalks and medians for several minutes. Local Civil Protection officer Silvia Rodriguez said there were no injuries there.

USGS earthquake analyst Don Blakeman said the quake was felt strongly in Mexico City because the epicenter was relatively shallow and the ground under the capital _ which is built on a former lake bed _ tends to intensify shock waves.

"Distant quakes are often felt" strongly in the city, he said.

The USGS revised the quake's magnitude down from its preliminary estimate of 6.0, and said its depth was 30 miles (50 kilometers).

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Associated Press writers Natalia Parra in Acapulco, Mexico, and Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report.

Comments

[dogman44]

03:07 AM on 04/28/2009

Well, we sure dodged a bullet on this one. Damage seems to have been light and people have
not been displaced from their homes. The last thing we need is people being crowded
together in emergency shelters during a flu outbreak.

[special muppet]

11:55 PM on 04/27/2009

Mexicans are a very strong people who pull together in a crisis... they'll be ok.

[mabinog]

11:45 PM on 04/27/2009

wow pestilence and earthquakes, the rapturists are probably getting stiffies....

[gbrooks]

08:19 AM on 04/28/2009

Seriously. Can't wait to hear what rhetoric Pat Robertson spews.

[7sunday7]

09:40 PM on 04/27/2009

Geez. Did Mexico piss in God's Wheaties? I hate it when horrible things happen one after another to a country.

[rabiddog6708]

07:24 PM on 04/27/2009

First all the gang violence......then the swine flu outbreak.....and now an earthquake. Ay Caramba!

[Copeword]

07:12 PM on 04/27/2009

I hope things get better for Mexico.

[dutchman]

07:02 PM on 04/27/2009

Hang in there Mexico. If bad news comes in threes, you're in the clear. Regardless, I hope you get better soon.

[InconvenientTruth]

06:48 PM on 04/27/2009

Drugs cartels, a deadly flu virus, and now an earthquake? Man God really hates Mexico right now.

[MadHeart]

06:46 PM on 04/27/2009

Mother Earth is p*ssed. That's all there is to it. She does what she does and we have to take it. We don't, however, have to take oppression from the so-called "rulers" who have sent many of us into the poorhouse. What are the 10 ruling families of Mexico doing for its people except enslaving most, keeping them poor, uneducated, superstitious, colluding with US corporations, and sending as many of their poor to the US as they want to, to satisfy the cheap labor advocates in the US?

[dimplesmile7]

06:03 PM on 04/27/2009

Mexico just can't get a break!

[Diogenis]

05:36 PM on 04/27/2009

The churches will fill up.....!

[abigail1]

05:19 PM on 04/27/2009

so sad. One thing piled on top of another. my thoughts are with them.

[Doris]

05:12 PM on 04/27/2009

that is so sad - Mexico is having a bad time.

[vinny]

05:12 PM on 04/27/2009

hang in there amigos...

[BunnyFooFoo]

05:01 PM on 04/27/2009

Yikes! Maybe the end is near. I just had a cockroach run across my kitchen counter 3 days ago. I have lived in this house for 21 years and have never seen one. The temp. is in the 90's and there are ants all over the place. I've had enough pestilence in the last week to last until next winter.

I pray the good people of Mexico will soon get some relief from their fears.