Mexico hit by 6.1 magnitude earthquake - people in streets as quake rocks Oaxaca

MEXICO has been rocked by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake for the second time in three days in the southern city of Oaxaca - sparking two aftershock quakes in California as Pacific Ring devastation looms.

The earthquake sent panicked locals into a frenzy, wandering the streets in despair in the early hours of this morning.

The magnitude 6.1 quake hit 43km (27 miles) east of Oaxaca at a depth of 10km at 6.56GMT, the US Geological Survey said.

The epicentre was close to the city of Pinotepa Nacional, which has a population of 26,000.

The earthquake woke residents of Mexico City, with many people running into the streets, according to Reuters.

The tremor was strong enough to trigger earthquake alarms in Mexico City, more than 200 miles (320km) away, but was shorter and less intense than the one on Saturday in the same area, Reuters reported.

The head of Mexico's civil protection agency, Luis Felipe Puente, said state emergency procedures had been activated in the affected states.

He said on Twitter: “So far, no damage has been reported.”

Infrastructure, including installations of state oil company Pemex, were intact, he said.

According to one resident, authorities gave sleeping locals just 30 seconds to get out.

Writing on Twitter, they said: "In Mexico City the earthquake alarms went off and gave us approximately 30 seconds to get out. We could feel it. It seems everything is ok."

The impact of the latest Mexico quake sparked two aftershock earthquakes in California.

The first was a 1.5 magnitude earthquake 7 miles (12km) northeast of Coachella, California.

The aftershock had a depth of 1.7km and struck at 23.38 local time (7.38 GMT), and there have been no reported casualties.

And a 2.9 magnitude quake was felt at 1.00am local time (9.00 GMT) northwest of San Fransisco in the country of Diablo, USGS reports.

A stronger 7.2 magnitude earthquake rattled Oaxaca on Saturday, leaving a million homes without power but there were no direct reports of loss of life.

Mexico has suffered a series of more powerful earthquakes in recent months, including two in September that together killed hundreds of people and brought buildings crashing down.

Some residents took to Twitter, with many relieved the tremor wasn't more serious.

One posted: "For real just experienced my first earthquake. In Mexico City. Magnitude 5.9 in Oaxaca. Bed shaking, light fixture moving. City alarms went off. Hope Oaxaca fine. The hubs slept through the whole thing."

Another wrote: "It's 1AM and the seismic alert just blasted through Mexico City. A small earthquake hit us, most of us barely felt it. But because of what happened last year, not many hesitate to get out looking for safety. We lie fully awake with too much adrenaline in our systems.