Earthquakes Mexico

Two moderately strong earthquakes rocked Mexico's Pacific resort of Acapulco on Friday, but no injuries or damage were reported. The government news agency Notimex said the first of the quakes, with a magnitude of 4.9, struck at 2:35 a.m. (1:35 a.m. PDT). The second, measuring 4.6, occurred at 5:25 a.m. PDT. A four-point quake is strong enough to cause heavy damage.

Twenty years ago, American seismologist John G. Anderson bet that the west coast of Mexico was due for a catastrophic earthquake. He and colleagues used money from a National Science Foundation grant to buy 30 seismic monitors and install them in the states of Guerrero and Michoacan, aiming to be the first to digitally record a great quake. Most of the monitors were in place on the morning of Sept. 19, 1985, when strong-motion sensors began recording a magnitude 8.1 earthquake.

Central and southern Mexico were rocked Thursday by one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the country since 1985, but initial reports said a dozen people were killed and damage was comparatively minor despite the force of the temblor. The epicenter of Thursday's magnitude 7.5 quake was near the Pacific Coast resort town of Puerto Escondido in the state of Oaxaca. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of homes damaged in the impoverished southeastern state.

A strong earthquake centered under the Pacific Ocean shook western and central Mexico, cracking walls, breaking windows and sending people racing into the streets. Mexico's National Seismological Service said it was a magnitude 7 quake, but the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., measured it at 6.4. The quake was centered about 240 miles southwest of Mexico City, in the Pacific about 30 miles west of the coastal city of Lazaro Cardenas.

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake centered in Baja California about 25 miles southeast of the border town of Calexico on Tuesday resulted in some structural damage but caused no injuries, Mexican authorities said. The 8:18 a.m. temblor was felt on the California side of the border but did no damage there. A spokesman for Mexicali's emergency communications department said parts of a school building collapsed in Ejido Nuevo Leon, as did two houses in Ejido Michoacan.

A moderately strong earthquake rocked central and southern Mexico late Tuesday, but authorities said they had no reports of damage or injuries. The quake caused some panic in the Mexican capital. The earthquake started at 11:28 p.m. The National Seismological Observatory reported an intensity of 5.9 and said the epicenter was off the Pacific coast of southern Guerrero state. High-rise buildings could be seen swaying along Paseo de la Reforma, the capital's main east-west thoroughfare.

A delegation of emergency experts from Los Angeles will be sent to Mexico to help victims of the magnitude 7.5 Puerto Angel earthquake and study the disaster's effects. Under a proposal introduced by Councilman Alex Padilla, the City Council voted unanimously Friday to send police, fire, transportation and other city workers to the state of Oaxaca.

A strong offshore earthquake shook Mexico's southern Pacific coast Monday night, panicking villagers and knocking out power to dozens of towns. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Mexico's National Seismological Service put the preliminary magnitude at 6.4. The temblor was felt as far away as Mexico City, more than 300 miles north of the epicenter.

A second strong earthquake in Mexico this month has killed at least one person, a woman who died of a heart attack after rushing out of her home in fright. Radio reports said the woman died Friday night in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Mexico's southernmost state, Chiapas. Residents swept glass and debris off sidewalks throughout Chiapas on Saturday in the wake of the 6.3-magnitude temblor. Several churches and buildings were damaged. It was Mexico's second large quake in as many weeks. A 7.

Orange County residents seeking information on family members in the earthquake-affected areas of Mexico can contact the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross. The local Red Cross announced Tuesday that it will accept inquiries from local residents who have lost touch with relatives in the Mexican states of Colima and Jalisco, the areas hardest hit by the magnitude-7.6 temblor on Monday. The local chapter had received a handful of calls from distraught relatives by Tuesday afternoon.

A moderately strong earthquake rocked central and southern Mexico late Tuesday, but authorities said they had no reports of damage or injuries. The quake caused some panic in the Mexican capital. The earthquake started at 11:28 p.m. The National Seismological Observatory reported an intensity of 5.9 and said the epicenter was off the Pacific coast of southern Guerrero state. High-rise buildings could be seen swaying along Paseo de la Reforma, the capital's main east-west thoroughfare.

A delegation of emergency experts from Los Angeles will be sent to Mexico to help victims of the magnitude 7.5 Puerto Angel earthquake and study the disaster's effects. Under a proposal introduced by Councilman Alex Padilla, the City Council voted unanimously Friday to send police, fire, transportation and other city workers to the state of Oaxaca.

The death toll rose to 20 Friday as officials assessed the damage and residents began to clear away fallen debris from a powerful earthquake that rattled nine of Mexico's 31 states. Roofs crumbled, roads buckled, and electricity was cut off in the poor southeastern state of Oaxaca, the epicenter of Thursday's magnitude 7.5 quake. Officials said that 3,850 buildings were damaged and cautioned that the death toll may rise as information trickles in from remote mountain areas.

Central and southern Mexico were rocked Thursday by one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the country since 1985, but initial reports said a dozen people were killed and damage was comparatively minor despite the force of the temblor. The epicenter of Thursday's magnitude 7.5 quake was near the Pacific Coast resort town of Puerto Escondido in the state of Oaxaca. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of homes damaged in the impoverished southeastern state.

When a magnitude 7.5 earthquake cracked buildings and claimed lives in Southern Mexico on Thursday, Spanish-language news stations in Los Angeles went live with coverage, including a statement from Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. When, about the same time, a nuclear accident sent radiation spilling out of a uranium processing plant in Japan, workers in Japanese businesses in Los Angeles dropped what they were doing and went to the Internet.

Jose Luis Romero, an auto worker who lives on the edge of this treasured colonial city, made a pilgrimage to inspect the damage wrought by last week's powerful earthquake. What he saw unnerved him. "The people of Puebla are in pain," he said this week as he gazed at the mustard-yellow bell tower of the 17th century Church of San Agustin, the top of which looked as if it had been chewed off. "It will be very expensive to fix this. Some things will return to what they were before, but not all."

A strong earthquake hit Mexico's Gulf of California shortly before 4 p.m., but no significant injuries or damage were immediately reported. The U.S. Geological Survey said that its monitoring center in Golden, Colo. measured the quake at 6.6 on the Richter scale. The temblor was centered in the middle of the gulf--also known as the Sea of Cortez--about 80 miles south of the city of Guaymas, the agency said.

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rattled south-central Mexico has risen to 18, but many officials expressed relief as it became clear that the damage from the magnitude-6.7 temblor was not as widespread as feared. Officials said 13 people died in the state of Puebla and one each in Oaxaca, Veracruz and Morelos. In the capital, two people died after the quake of heart attacks apparently triggered by fear.

A powerful earthquake rocked a broad belt of central Mexico on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 12 people, injuring hundreds of others and damaging the graceful colonial heart of the city of Puebla, officials said. The magnitude-6.7 temblor struck at 3:41 p.m. and lasted nearly two minutes, the National Seismological Service reported.