Powerful 7.4 earthquake rocks southern Mexico, killing 1

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the southern coast of Oaxaca, Mexico on June 23, 2020

(Image credit: USGS)

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the southern coast of Mexico at 10:29 local time this morning, causing buildings to sway hundreds of miles away in Mexico City and resulting in at least one death, NBC news reported.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the quake was centered near the southern coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and was felt by an estimated 2 million people. Roughly 200 miles (320 kilometers) away in Mexico City, people fled into the street as buildings swayed, alarms blared and pavement stones moved visibly underfoot. So far, at least one injury and one death have been reported in the coastal city of Huatulco, close to the epicenter.

The quake emerged from a fault at the edge of the North American plate and the Cocos plate (which runs along much of the West coast of Central America), the USGS reported. This same plate boundary has seen its fair share of powerful quakes over the past century, most recently in 2018 when a magnitude 7.2 quake struck Oaxaca about 140 miles (225 km) north of today's quake, injuring several people and damaging thousands of homes.

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Brandon is the space / physics editor at Live Science. With more than 20 years of editorial experience, his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in journalism and media arts. His interests include black holes, asteroids and comets, and the search for extraterrestrial life.