Mexico City, Mexico- A magnitude 7.6 earthquake, hit Mexico’s central Pacific coast on Monday and killed at least one person.
According to the United States (US) Geologic Survey, the quake was centred 37 kilometres (23 miles) southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacan States and at a depth of 15.1 kilometres (9.4 miles).
In Coalcomán, Michoacan, near the quake’s epicentre, buildings were damaged, including a hospital, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Mexico City‘s Mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, said there were no reports of damage in the capital, but power was out in parts of the City.
Irlanda Villa, of coastal Coahuayana, Michoacan near the border with Colima, said some walls had fallen, but the big fear was that a tsunami would follow, “We were afraid the sea would go out, but in the end everything is fine.”
Mexico’s National Civil Defense agency said that based on historic data on tsunamis in Mexico, variations of as much as 32 inches (82 cm) were possible in coastal water levels near the epicentre.
In addition, the US Tsunami Warning Center said that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 300 kilometres (186 miles) of the epicentre.
In 1985, a magnitude 8.0 quake centred near the coast of Guerrero State killed at least 9 500 people and more than 360 people died in the magnitude 7.1 quake that struck in 2017.
Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, more than one million people have been left without access to water after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the nation early on Monday.
This is after the storm wreaked havoc across Puerto Rico on Sunday and into Monday, leaving the island in a blackout and bringing destruction not seen on the island since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Heavy rainfall also continued to soak eastern regions of the Dominican Republic on Monday evening and life-threatening flooding is expected to continue into Tuesday.
President Luis Abinader has since declared three eastern provinces to be disaster zones, La Altagracia, El Seibo and Hato Mayor.
Footage from local media showed residents of the east coast town of Higuey waist-deep in water, trying to salvage personal belongings.
With 18 of the island’s 32 provinces on red alert, nearly 800 people were sheltering in safe areas, according to emergency services.
According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Hurricane Fiona was packing maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometres per hour, (100 miles per hour).
