Strong earthquake rocks eastern Mexico Published April 07, 2011

Mexico City – A magnitude-6.5 earthquake rocked eastern Mexico on Thursday, but no injuries or damage were reported.
The temblor occurred at 8:11 a.m. and its epicenter was located 83 kilometers (51 miles) southwest of Las Choapas, a city in Veracruz state, at a depth of 167 kilometers (104 miles), the National Seismology Service said.








The quake was felt in several cities, including Mexico City, where many people left residences and office buildings as a precaution.
The earthquake was felt in Minatitlan, Acayucan, Coatzacoalcos and Moloacan, all cities in Veracruz state.
Evaluations of damage in all 212 of Veracruz's cities are being conducted, the emergency management office said, adding that the quake did not damage any strategic facilities, such as oil refineries and petrochemical complexes.
The Laguna Verde nuclear power plant was not affected by the earthquake, which occurred in an area of low seismic activity.
Cracks were reported in buildings in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas state, which borders Veracruz.
Some residents of Tuxtla Gutierrez were gripped by panic, officials said.
Mexico, one of the countries with the highest levels of seismic activity in the world, sits on the North American tectonic plate and is surrounded by three other plates in the Pacific: the Rivera microplate, at the mouth of the Gulf of California; the Pacific plate; and the Cocos plate.
That last tectonic plate stretches from Colima state south and has the potential to cause the most damage since it affects Mexico City, which has a population of more than 20 million and was constructed over what was once Lake Texcoco.
The magnitude-8.1 earthquake that hit Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, was the most destructive to ever hit Mexico, killing some 10,000 people, injuring more than 40,000 others and leaving 80,000 people homeless.
The most recent powerful quake to hit Mexico was a magnitude-7.6 temblor that rocked Colima on Jan. 21, 2003.