Two strong earthquakes struck Mexico Tuesday in a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the worst since 1985, that destroyed hundreds of homes and affected over 20 million people with widespread damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the first earthquake was 7.4 on the Richter scale and it struck 11 miles below the surface shortly after noon local time (18:02 GMT) with 10 aftershocks.
According to Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire, no one died in the earthquake but nine were injured in Oaxaca and two in Mexico City when the quake struck from the epicenter southwest of Ometepec in Guerrero state, as reported by ABC News.
According to ABC News, about 800 homes were seriously damaged in Oaxaca and Guerrero, with 60 collapses. Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre order emergency responders to respond to the city of Ometepec. Reuters reported that a bridge collapsed on a bus in Mexico City.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard reported minimal damage in Mexico City, where the quake was felt, noting phone lines were down and some were without power. Ebrard set up a hotline for residents to report damages.
CBS News reported that First daughter Malia Obama, 13, who was on vacation in southwest Mexico with friends, "is safe and was never in danger" of the earthquake.
Other residents were evacuated almost immediately when the quake struck shortly after noon on Tuesday.
"I was sitting at my desk on the ninth floor, when all of the sudden I got a sudden dizzy feeling as if the ground fell beneath me," Joseph Martinez, 23, recounted to IBTimes from Colonia Lomas de Plateros. "Then I realized it wasn't the wind moving the window shades, as the plants in the office were also moving ... and the picture frames on the wall were swinging from side to side."
Martinez, along with many other workers and residents in Mexico City, was evacuated outside of the building as everyone was instructed in Spanish to "stay calm" and "go downstairs" while many aftershocks were felt.
For Martinez, the Tuesday earthquake was much more intense than the 6.4-magnitude quake that struck Mexico City in December.
"The movement was strong, stronger than what I had felt in December when a 6.4 shook the city," Martinez said.
The earthquake was the strongest quake in Mexico since the 8.0-magnitude one that devastated the capital in 1985 and killed at least 10,000 people.
View the slideshow to see photos of the damage by the March 20 quake in Mexico.
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