Reuters: Top News: Big earthquake hits Mexico, no major damage reported

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Big earthquake hits Mexico, no major damage reported Mar 20th 2012, 20:28 1 of 12. Mexico City residents stand outside their buildings after feeling the tremors from an earthquake in the southern state of Guerrero, in Mexico City, March 20, 2012. The USGS reported a magnitude 7.6 earthquake near the country's southwestern coast, while the government initially said there were no reports of serious damage. Credit: Reuters/Claudia Daut By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY | Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:28pm EDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A major earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday, damaging buildings and forcing evacuations in the capital and reportedly knocking down some homes in rural areas. Office buildings shook and office employees fled into the street when the 7.6-magnitude quake rattled Mexico City. Cell phone lines went down and traffic snarled in the capital moments after the quake, which lasted for more than a minute. The governor of the southwestern state of Guerrero, Angel Aguirre, said he had received reports of 500 homes damaged, with some of them knocked down, but he gave no more details. In the Pacific coast beach resort of Acapulco, tourists ran out of cafes and restaurants, a local resident said. "I swear I never felt one so strong, I thought the building was going to collapse," said Sebastian Herrera, 42, a businessman from a Mexico City neighborhood hit hard in a devastating 1985 earthquake that killed thousands of people. Some buildings in the capital's trendy district of Condesa were cracked by the quake on Tuesday, and residents ran out of their buildings with young children and dogs in their arms. Television images showed part of a bridge collapsed onto a vehicle on the outskirts of Mexico City, but Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said no one was injured and helicopter flyovers showed there was no sign of major damage in the capital. President Felipe Calderon also said on his twitter account there were no reports of serious damage. The U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, said the quake registered magnitude 7.6 and that its epicenter was in Guerrero state, near the Pacific Coast resort of Acapulco. The quake cracked walls and knocked down roofs in Ometepec, the town closest to the epicenter, but there were no reports of casualties there, a state government spokesman said earlier. In Acapulco, schools were evacuated and some parents rushed to pick up their children, but there appeared to be no major damage to hotels or other buildings in the resort. Gabino Cue, governor of Oaxaca state, said via twitter that the quake had caused cracks in school buildings and damaged roofs in one part of the state. The quake was felt as far away as Guatemala City. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the inland earthquake would not generate a destructive widespread tsunami, but there was the possibility of some local tsunami effects. (Additional reporting by Patrick Rucker and Mica Rosenberg in Mexico City, and Luis Enrique Martinez in Acapulco; Editing by Anthony Boadle and Kieran Murray) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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