16 killed in Mexico's biggest earthquake
A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Mexico, killing at least 16 people in what the president called the quake-prone country's biggest one in a century.
The quake hit offshore in the Pacific at 11:49 pm (0449 GMT), about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the coastal town of Tonala, in far southern Chiapas state, Mexico's seismologic service said.
"It was a major earthquake in scale and magnitude, the strongest in the past 100 years," said President Enrique Pena Nieto in an address from the National Disaster Prevention Center's headquarters, where he was supervising the emergency response.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude slightly lower, at 8.1. That is the same as a devastating 1985 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people in Mexico City - the country's most destructive ever.
In the capital, people ran out of buildings - many in their pajamas - after hearing warning sirens go off just before midnight (0500 GMT Friday).
"Not another one. God, please no," said one woman, falling to her knees to pray.
"I was driving when the ground started to shake. The car was wobbling," said Cristian Rodriguez, a 28-year-old Uber driver in Mexico City.
The quake shook a large swath of the country and was felt as far north as Mexico City - some 800 kilometers from the epicenter - where people ran from their homes as buildings trembled and swayed.
Authorities initially declared a tsunami alert stretching all the way south to Ecuador, but lifted it several hours later.
Officials said four people were killed in Chiapas, near the epicenter.
In neighboring Tabasco state, two children were killed, the governor said.
One was crushed by a collapsing wall. The other, an infant on a respirator, died after the quake triggered a power outage.
The worst destruction appeared to be in Juchitan, in the state of Oaxaca, where 10 people were killed, according to the head of the emergency response agency, Ricardo de la Cruz.
Officials said the death toll there could rise.