Five months after a major earthquake devastated Mexico City, a powerful tremor has struck the country again. A helicopter carrying government officials who were to examine the damage crashed in an unrelated incident.
The US Geological Survey put the epicenter 37 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Pinotepa de Don Luis in the southwestern state of Oaxaca. This was away from major urban centers, but it was powerful enough to leave tall buildings swaying for more than a minute in Mexico City, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) away.
Shortly afterward, a magnitude 5.8 aftershock hit with a similar epicenter.
Local media published images and videos showing bricks and rubble that had fallen from buildings, and products falling off shelves in a supermarket.
Helicopter crash kills 13
Also on Saturday, officials said a helicopter with the Mexican interior minister and a state governor on board crashed near the center of the earthquake in the country's south, killing 13 people on the ground.
Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca governor Alejandro Murat had been on their way to examine the scene left by the earthquake when the accident happened.
Navarrete told Mexico's Televisa network that a number of the helicopter's passengers were injured and that the pilot of the military helicopter, which had flown from Mexico City to Pinotepa de Don Luis, some 37 kilometers (22 miles) southwest of the epicenter, lost control of the chopper 40 meters above the ground as it was coming in to land.
On average, some 10,000 people die in earthquakes around the world annually. The temblors have often provoked tsunamis and wider devastation. DW takes a look at some of the most powerful earthquakes of the last century.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barret
Most powerful earthquake ever recorded
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded hit Chile's coast in May 1960. The quake, 9.5 on the Richter scale, lasted almost 10 minutes, resulting in massive infrastructure damage. Around 5,700 people were killed in Chile while the resulting tsunami left 130 people dead in Japan and another 61 in Hawaii. This picture shows the remains of Corral harbor in Chile's Valdivia province.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Good Friday earthquake
The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, remains the strongest earthquake to hit the US to date. It occured on Good Friday, March 27, across south-central Alaska. The quake and the following tsunamis caused about 139 deaths. The picture above is from a small fishing village on Kodiak Island and it shows debris from houses and boats.
Image: Getty Images/Central Press
Most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan
A team member from Japan's Rescue Dog Association and his dog search for victims. Northeastern Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake, measuring 9.1 on the moment magnitude scale, followed by a massive tsunami. The natural disasters claimed almost 18,500 lives, and crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, in what is considered the world's worst nuclear power disaster since Chernobyl.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Y. Chiba
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The undersea megathrust earthquake, magnitude 9.1, triggered a series of devastating tsunamis, killing some 280,000 people in 14 different countries and inundating coastal communities with waves up to a 100 feet. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
Image: Getty Images/P.M. Bonafede/U.S. Navy
Kamchatka earthquake
A megathrust earthquake occurred off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia on November 4, 1952. The 9.0 magnitude quake caused a tsunami leading to widespread destruction and loss of life around the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. More than 2,300 people were killed.
2010 Chile earthquake
An 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile in February 2010. It triggered a tsunami which devastated several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaged the port at Talcahuano. The quake and the following tsunami resulted in the deaths of around 450 people, while damage to the local fisheries' business was estimated at 66.7 million US dollars.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Bernetti
China 1976 quake
An abandoned railway coach in Tangshan, China after an earthquake devastated the industrial town on July 28, 1976. The quake, measured at 7.4, struck near the industrial city in northeastern Hebei province. The official death toll is given as 242,000 but is believed to be significantly higher. Some estimates put the deathtoll at around 500,000.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone/Hulton Archive
1920 Haiyuan earthquake
The earthquake, measured at 8.3, occurred in the Haiyuan county of the northern province of Ningxia and caused aftershocks for almost three years. As a result, up to 235,000 people died immediately. Many more, who were living in camps due to the continuing aftershocks, perished later due to severe winter conditions.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
2010 Haiti earthquake
A man walks amid the rubble of a destroyed building in Port-au-Prince following the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010. With a magnitude of 7.0, the quake destroyed thousands of buildings and left at least 200,000 people dead.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barret
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Fear of a repeat
Panicked residents ran into the street in Mexico City, fearing a repeat of September's deadly earthquake.
"To be honest, we're all pretty upset. We start crying whenever the [earthquake] alarm goes off. We're stressed out, we have flashbacks. So we run out into the street. It's all we can do," 38-year-old publicist Kevin Valladolid told the Agence France-Presse news agency through tears in central Mexico City.
"It was awful," Mercedes Rojas Huerta, 57, told The Associated Press, too frightened to go back inside. "It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do?"
Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete said there had been some superficial damage to buildings in Oaxaca, but that no deaths had been reported.
The US National Weather service said it was not issuing a tsunami alert.
