Deadly Mexico Guatemala Earthquake Death Toll Rises, Landslides, Felled Power Lines (PHOTOS)

UPDATE:

At least five deaths have been reported after walls collapsed on some of them and suffered a heart attack when a magnitude-6.9 earthquake rocked southern Mexico and Central America Monday morning. Survivors fled into the streets as houses and other buildings collapsed and landslides occurred. Major communications systems were cut from power lines falling.

“I thought the house was going to collapse,” said Claudia Gonzales, 32, who fled into the street with her 1-year-old daughter in Comitan, a town in Chiapas.

Firefighters spokesman Raul Hernandez said at least two people were killed when their homes collapsed in the Guatemalan town of San Marcos.

A woman in Quetzaltenango died from a heart attack.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said a newborn had been killed by a collapsing wall in a San Marcos hospital.

A man was killed in Huixtla by a collapsed wall, according to the civil defense office in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Cracks opened in buildings, and landslides occurred in the area, authorities said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor hit around 7:23 a.m ET and was centered about a mile northeast of Puerto Madero near the Guatemala border.

“We have reports of damaged homes and apparently three people dead. For now, this is all supposition, we’re going by air to make checks,” Sergio Cabanas, a spokesman for Guatemalan emergency services, told Reuters.

Twelve people were taken to hospitals and 50 houses were evacuated in the region, where major disruptions to communication systems have been reported, according to Sergio Vasquez, another spokesman for fire services.

“This quake was pretty strong. There are houses destroyed,” Luis Rivera, governor of the San Marcos region, told Reuters from the region hit by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in 2012 that killed 48 people.

In Mexico, local news media reported the quake was felt strongly in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco – but buildings in Mexico City swayed during the temblor.

The quake’s epicenter was 85 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the town of Mapastepec at a depth of 16 kilometers (10 miles).

It was initially reported as magnitude-7.1, but the Geological Survey lowered the figure hours later.

Original story

A powerful earthquake with preliminary magnitude 7.1 struck the west coast off southern Mexico on Modnay morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and initial reports being filed.

Two deaths have been reported, both in Guatemala.

The temblor was on the country’s Pacific coast in Mazatan, some 22 miles west-southwest of Tapachula and 140 miles west of Guatemala City. It erupted about 47 miles beneath the surface, the USGS said.

Residents reported feeling severe shaking near the quake’s epicenter, according to the USGS.

Mexico City buildings and light posts swayed.

Local media reported the quake was felt strongly in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco just north of Guatemala.

The quake has caused power outages in western Guatemala.

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