UPDATE: 9-8-2017, 10:50 a.m.
The Associated Press is reporting that the death toll in relation to Thursday night's earthquake in Mexico has risen to at least 32 people.
No other information was immediately available.
We will update this post as information comes into the WIOD newsroom.
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Mexico’s civil defense chief says the death toll from the earthquake that hit off southern Mexico has risen to at least 15.
Luis Felipe Puente told the Televisa network that 10 had died in Oaxaca state, three in Chiapas and two in Tabasco.
The most powerful earthquake to hit Mexico in 100 years, with a magnitude of 8.2, struck off the nation’s Pacific Coast late Thursday, rattling millions of residents in Mexico City with its violent tremors.
The force sent residents fleeing into the streets at midnight, shaken by the alarms blaring over loudspeakers and a full minute of tremors.
Authorities are evacuating residents in Puerto Madero in Chiapas as a precaution due to a tsunami alert put in place after the quake struck.
Chiapas’ civil protection agency tweeted that the evacuation was underway and posted photos of residents getting off a truck and going into what appeared to be a shelter. No further details have been provided.
The timing of this devastation in Mexico parallels the impending landfall of Hurricane Irma in South Florida.