A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the southern Mexican Pacific coast on Friday on the border with Guatemala, and a tsunami alert was lifted about an hour after the quake.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the epicenter was 30 miles southwest of Aquiles Serdan, near the coast of Chiapas, at a depth of nine miles, and said the quake was preceded by a smaller tremor with an epicenter farther out in the ocean.
There were at least five aftershocks between magnitude 5.1 and six, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The tremor was felt from Mexico City to El Salvador, and authorities had not immediately reported any severe damage or casualties in any country.
In Tapachula, the main city on Mexico's southern border, the tremor began mildly but gradually intensified. "We were upstairs on the second floor when it started shaking; we thought it would pass, but then it got stronger, so we all went downstairs and evacuated in an orderly manner to the front courtyard," Alejandra Mendoza, an administrative employee at a public hospital in the city, said.
In Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital of Chiapas, there were scenes of panic in the few tall buildings of the city, an AFP journalist reported. "It feels horrible up there," Araceli Sanchez, a government employee who was in a 15-story building, said. "There were people who cried," she added after fleeing down the emergency stairs.
In Guatemala City, the earthquake frightened residents because of how long it lasted, and many people poured into the streets in the middle of rush hour as the workday was beginning.
In the Mexican capital, the earthquake alert did not sound because, the government said, "the energy radiated by the earthquake during the first few seconds did not exceed the activation thresholds."
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System initially warned that hazardous tsunami waves were possible along coasts located within 186 miles of the epicenter but later said the threat had passed.
The navy recommended staying away from beaches for six hours because of tsunami risk, and the Meteorological Service of Chiapas initially alerted that there could be tsunami waves up to 3.3 feet off the coast of Mexico and Guatemala.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that preliminary reports showed no damage.
The region is prone to earthquakes; earlier this year a strong quake rattled southern and central Mexico, killing two, and the reports noted that hundreds in Mexico City were killed in a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2017.