A magnitude 7.2 earthquake in in the Mexican state of Oaxaca Friday evening. The quake could be felt in Mexico City, more than 200 miles from where the quake was centered.
Thirteen people are dead and 15 injured after a government helicopter surveying the damage crashed.
All of the casualties were on the ground.
Mexico's Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca state Gov. Alejandro Murat were unharmed in the crash.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit near the Mexican coast was so powerful that its impact was felt in Mexico City.
The quake that struck at 5:29 p.m. local time Friday was located near the coast 23 miles northeast of Pinotepa in the southern state of Oaxaca and was felt in Mexico City, where jittery people still shook up after a deadly earthquake in September fled swaying buildings and office towers, AP reports.
The temblor had a depth of 15 miles. The Oaxaca state civil protection agency said via Twitter that it was monitoring the coastline.
“It was awful,” Mercedes Rojas Huerta, who lives in Mexico City’s trendy Condesa district, told the Associated Press. “It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do?”
About 50 homes sustained significant damage in Santiago Jamiltepec, along with some damage to the city hall and main church, AP reports. More than 1 million were without electricity after the quake but restored power was expected by the end of the day Saturday.
In September, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck central Mexico, killing 228 people dead in the capital and 369 across the region. Many buildings in Mexico City remain damaged following that quake.
According to the National Seismological Service in Mexico, Oaxaca is one of the country's most earthquake-prone states, registering approximately 25 percent of all its quakes.
weather.com/news/news/2018-02-16-earthquake-mexico-city-mexican-damage
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