Magnitude-5.6 earthquake leaves two dead in Mexico

Rescuers trying to reach the bodies of two workers who were buried after an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale rocked central and southern Mexico, in Cocotitlan, Mexico on Nov. 23, 2015. EFE

Mexico City, Nov 24 (EFE).- An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale hit central and southern Mexico Monday and caused the deaths of at least two workers who were trapped in a trench.

Sources from the State of Mexico's public security commission said the quake occurred in Cocotitlan municipality, where the men were engaged in constructing drainage lines, according to media reports.

The earthquake caused a mudslide and the two workers, unable to escape, were buried in the trench, while firemen and Civil Protection personnel from Cocotitlan, Chalco and Amecameca were sent to the area.

According to the Mexican National Seismological Service, the earthquake occurred at 2.41 p.m., and its epicenter was located at 48 km (around 30 miles) to the east of San Marcos municipality, in the southern state of Guerrero, and at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said no casualties were reported from the capital, whereas per emergency protocols, hundreds of buildings were evacuated after the earthquake alert was emitted 50 seconds before the tremor.

The government asked the people to stay calm and to remain on alert against further warnings by the Civil Protection body.


Mexico, one of the countries with the highest levels of seismic activity in the world, sits on the North American tectonic plate and is surrounded by three other plates in the Pacific: the Rivera microplate, at the mouth of the Gulf of California; the Pacific plate; and the Cocos plate.

www.laprensasa.com