MEXICO has been rocked by a huge 6.5 magnitude earthquake.
Emergency alarms sounded as President Claudia Sheinbaum gave her first press briefing of the new year.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and its epicenter was near the town of San Marcos in the southern state of Guerrero near the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said.
There was no serious damage in Guerrero reported immediately, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on X, after speaking with the state’s governor.
President Claudia Sheinbaum was forced to evacuate the presidential palace during her regular morning press conference, along with the journalists in attendance, when the earthquake alert sounded.
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They returned minutes later where Sheinbaum resumed her press briefing.
Sheinbaum said the earthquake’s epicenter was situated 15 kilometers (nine miles) from San Marcos, in the southern state of Guerrero – about 230 kilometers from Mexico City.
A hospital was forced to evacuate in the city with people snapped outside after the earthquake struck.
While others were pictured in the streets outside their homes after the alarm was sounded.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1358 GMT, or 7:58 am local time.
The center of Mexico City is built on the muddy subsoil of what was once the bed of a lake, making it particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.
Those most strongly felt usually originate off Guerrero state on the Pacific coast.
On September 19, 1985, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake devastated a vast swathe of Mexico City, leaving nearly 13,000 dead, according to official figures.