Second moderate quake hits Mexico

Two moderate earthquake struck northwestern Mexico near the US border and no major damage or injuries were reported.

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake took place at about 8:30 PM local time on Monday. About 10 hours earlier, a 5.1 temblor shook the area, prompting authorities to evacuate schools and resulting in at least one minor gas leak.

Both quakes were centred about 35 kilometres southeast of the border city of Mexicali, and 40 kilometres southeast of the US border city of Calexico, California, according to the US Geological Survey.

In Mexicali, an industrial border city of about 7,50,000, the quake early morning yesterday caused the wall of a school to fall and started a gas leak in a second school, prompting authorities to evacuate all of the city's learning centres, said Alfredo Escobedo, civil protection director for the Mexican state of Baja California, which includes Mexicali.

Escobedo said no injuries or other damages were reported.

On Friday, the Mexicali area was rocked by a magnitude-5.4 quake that shut down factories and left 4,00,000 people without power. That quake was felt in parts of California and Arizona, the USGS said.

The first quake on Monday was likely an aftershock, said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado.

In 2000, the northern Baja California region near Mexicali was rattled by a cluster of quakes, but they did not cause any damage.