国际英语新闻：Earthquake of 5.9 magnitude shakes Mexico City

MEXICO CITY, May 22 (Xinhua) - An earthquake of 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale shook on Friday Mexico City, without reports of victims and damages so far.

    The National Seismologic Service (SSN) said that the epicenter was located 26 kilometers south to Chiautla de Tapia municipality in the state of Puebla, center of Mexico.

    The earthquake occurred at 2:24 p.m. local time (1924 GMT) and it lasted 15 seconds. It was mainly felt in Tehuacan municipality, Puebla.

    Civil Protection Secretariat from Mexico City said that helicopters from the Condor Group flew over Mexico City, and to the moment they have not reported victims or material damages.

People gather outdoors after the earthquake in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, May 22, 2009. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 jolted Mexico on Friday afternoon. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor had its epicenter in Mexico's Puebla region, some 140 km southeast of Mexico City, with a depth of 97.3 km.

People in many buildings in the Historical Center, like the Senate of the Republic, the Public Education Ministry (SEP) and some insurance agencies, were evacuated.

    Sources from the SSN said that it was a vibratory and oscillatory earthquake.

    Many people told radio station and TV channels that the phone and cell telephony were blocked for several minutes.

    Mexico City's Mayor Marcelo Ebrard told reporters that there have not been registered damages at the strategic points of Mexico City, like the System of Collective Transportation (STC) the water and drainage system as well as the electricity service.