Powerful earthquake with 7.2 magnitude shakes Mexico City

A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City on Friday, triggering the capital`s quake alarm system and causing buildings to sway.

Mexico`s National Seismological Service put the magnitude of the quake at 7.0, and seismic monitor network Sky Alert said the quake was felt across the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla.

The US Geological Survey initially gave the quake`s magnitude as 7.5, later revising it down to 7.2, and located its epicenter 37 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Pinotepa de Don Luis, in the southwestern state of Oaxaca.

The US National Weather service said it was not issuing a tsunami alert.

The latest tremor comes less than six months after a pair of devastating earthquakes killed hundreds of people in central and southern Mexico.

On September 7 last year, an 8.2 earthquake shook the nation and killed 96 people, mostly in the state of Oaxaca.

Then on September 19 -- the 32nd anniversary of a huge 1985 quake that killed 10,000 people -- another 7.1 quake rocked the country, leaving 369 people dead.