MEXICO CITY -- A powerful earthquake shook a wide area of Mexico on Friday, terrifying residents and sending many fleeing into the streets.
There were no initial reports of injuries and only minor damage in the capital, though information from elsewhere in central Mexico was still coming in.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake at about 9:30 a.m. local time had a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, which would make it one of the stronger temblors registered in Mexico City in several years.
The quake was 14 miles deep and felt in nine of Mexico's 31 states, according to the USGS, with the epicenter located in the coastal state of Guerrero about 200 miles southwest of the capital.
Guerrero, between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, is a heavily seismic region and is often slow to give accounts of damage because of the remoteness of some communities.
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancerra said several walls had fallen down in the Zona Rosa section of the capital but that no injuries had been reported.
"The important part is that we have no reports of injured people," he told journalists. "We did see that many buildings were evacuated of their people, and we are continuing to survey the capital."
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-mexico-city-earthquake-20...
