6.5 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico City and Acapulco, a popular tourist destination

A powerful earthquake struck southern and central Mexico on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring many more. Officials said that there does not appear to be much damage caused by the earthquake.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5. Its epicenter was near the city of San Marcos in the southern province of Guerrero, near the Pacific coast city of Acapulco.

It occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles, 2.5 miles northwest of Rancho Viejo, Guerrero. The quake was felt more than 250 kilometers away in Mexico City.

Residents and tourists in Mexico City and Acapulco rushed to the streets when the tremors began.

Karen Gomez, a 47-year-old office worker who lives on the 13th floor of an apartment building in Mexico City, told Agence France-Presse that the alarm woke her up.

“I woke up in fear. The notification on my cell phone said a strong earthquake,” he said.

The civil protection agency reported various landslides around Acapulco and on other highways in the province.

Local officials said a 60-year-old man from Mexico City died from his injuries after falling from his second-floor apartment in the capital, AFP reported. The Mayor of Mexico City, Clara Brugada, confirmed his death in a statement posted on social media. In another statement released on social media, he said at least 12 people were injured in the earthquake.

A second death was reported near Guerrero. Gov. Evelyn Salgado told the media that a 50-year-old woman died after her house collapsed.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, whose first news conference of the new year was interrupted by the quake, said she spoke with Salgado, who initially told her no major damage had been reported.

José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, a doctor and human rights defender who lives in one of the hills of Acapulco, said he heard a loud noise and all the dogs in the area started barking.

“At that moment the earthquake notification rang on my mobile phone,” he said, “and the earthquake started to feel stronger with a loud noise.”

He said the tremors were mild compared to previous tremors and he has prepared a backpack of essentials to be ready to travel as the tremors continue.

He said he was unable to contact his friends who live near Costa Chica, southeast of Acapulco, because communications were down.

Mexico is located between five tectonic plates and is one of the most seismically active countries.

In January 2025, a 6.2 Earthquakes it shook the southwestern region of Mexico. The quake was about five miles from Coalcoman de Vazquez Pallares, a municipality of about 20,000 people, about 372 kilometers west of Mexico City. The earthquake struck at a depth of 53 miles.

In 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off the Pacific coast devastated much of central and southern Mexico, killing thousands of people and causing extensive damage to Mexico City.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 19, 2017, killed 369 people, most of them in the capital.

After five years, on the same day in 2022central Mexico was hit by another earthquake, hours later millions of people took part in a mock earthquake safety exercise. The effects of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake reached 1,500 miles to the north, there four-foot-tall waves began to blow inside a cave in Death Valley called the Devils Hole.

AFP

contributed to this report.