Officials in Oaxaca report there was no damage after a 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck near the coast early Friday morning.
The epicenter of the quake, recorded at 4:47am, was 22 kilometers northeast of Puerto Escondido and had a depth of 10 kilometers.
After activating the seismic alert system, the state Civil Protection office began its monitoring protocol to search for damages in all regions of the state, confirming at 6:00am that despite having been felt in several parts of Oaxaca, the quake did not cause any damage.
The Interior Secretariat declared a state of emergency in the towns of San Pedro Comitancillo and Ciudad Ixtepec, in Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, after a 5.3-magnitude tremor struck the region on January 16.
The quake damaged buildings in nine municipalities and caused nervous breakdowns among more than 400 people. Many residents are still haunted by the memory of the September 2017 quake that cause extensive damage in the area.
A natural disaster declaration issued by Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat is currently being reviewed in order to request funds from the Natural Disaster Fund (Fonden) to attend to damages in seven municipalities.
A 5.9-magnitude quake struck on January 19 near Huajuapan de León, in the Mixteca region, but there was no damage reported.
Oaxaca has seen the majority of the earthquakes registered in the country so far this year. Of the 2,752 quakes recorded as of January 24, the epicenters of 1,421 were in Oaxaca.
Source: El Universal (sp)
