Man killed in northwest Mexican quake

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred at 5:40 p.m. local time (2240 GMT) with a depth of 10 km.

The epicenter was some 26 km south-southwest of Guadalupe Victoria, 173km east-southeast of Tijuana, which borders the U.S. city of San Diego, California.

The civil protection service in Baja California said the government building and a hospital in the state capital of Mexicali were reported to have sustained damage.

A man was killed when his home building collapsed outside of Mexicali, close to the epicenter of the earthquake.

Meanwhile, electricity and telephone communications were disrupted in part of Mexicali, and emergency departments were resorting to radio communication in their after-quake work.

Mobile phone service was cut off for some 30 minutes, and access to some local websites was interrupted, he added.

According to the National Seismological Institute, the quake was likely to have inflicted heavy damage as it was not far from the population center.

The earthquake was also felt in the southwestern corner of the United States, such as in Los Angeles and Palma Springs in California, and Las Vegas in Nevada.

A series of minor aftershocks followed the strong quake, which was previously measured at 6.9 magnitude, said the USGS, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.