Death toll from Mexico’s earthquake rises to 60, with 200 injured

The death toll arising from an earthquake measuring 8.0 magnitude which hit the coast province of Mexico has risen from five to 60 with reports indicating that over 200 people have been left injured.

According to reports, the earthquake triggered tsunami warnings in several countries and caused people to flee into the street with buildings swayed and lights going out in Mexico City, some 650 miles from the epicenter.

Mexican President Pena Nieto said in a series of tweets on Friday that more than 200 people had been injured and more than 260 aftershocks had hit the country since the initial quake, the most powerful of which was measured at magnitude 8.0.

Read also: Five feared dead as Mexico is hit by magnitude 8.0 earthquake

“It was a large-scale earthquake,” Pena Nieto said. “It had a bigger magnitude than the one Mexicans knew in 1985.”

Reports say the epicentre of the earthquake was 123km southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 70km, according to USGS.

According to Eduardo Mendoza, senior program manager for Direct Relief, the small town of Juchitan in Oaxaca state “was completely leveled.”

The quake has “affected such a wide region” that officials are still struggling to mobilize their staff, Mendoza said.

 

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