Southern Mexico was shaken by a powerful earthquake

A 6.5 magnitude quake struck a large area in central Mexico and south yesterday, causing panic, rushing to the streets.

The earthquake was strong enough to shake buildings and restaurants in Mexico City, hundreds of kilometers away, local people said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred at around 8:11 am yesterday local time, with the epicenter near Las Choapas, a city of about 83,000 people in the state Veracruz, about 600km southeast of Mexico City, and 167km deep.

Children were evacuated from a kindergarten in Chiapas after the earthquake.

The earthquake shook buildings for a few seconds in the capital, and in Veracruz state on the Gulf of Mexico, people fled their homes and students gathered on the schoolyard.

' It was a strong earthquake. We have activated all monitoring systems but there has been no announcement of damage or casualties , 'said Elias Miguel Moreno, from the Mexico City Civil Protection office.

Near the epicenter, cracks appeared on the walls that forced an elementary school to evacuate, Bernabe Hernandez Perez, head of the Las Choapas City Civil Protection department.

Governor Veracruz, Javier Duarte de Ochoa, said he did not receive reports of damage in the oil-producing state.

Earthquakes were also strongly felt in the state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, as well as the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast.

In 1985, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City, killing more than 10,000 people.