More than 40 aftershocks after big Mexico quake

Members of a family sleep outside their home in fear that aftershocks from Tuesday's magnitude-7.4 quake could cause their home to collapse in Pinotepa Nacional in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, near the border with Guerrero, Wednesday March 21, 2012. As of early Wednesday, there were no reports of deaths from Tuesday's quake centered near the border between the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, even after over 40 aftershocks. AP PHOTO/LUIS ALBERTO CRUZ HERNANDEZ

MEXICO CITY—More than 40 aftershocks shook the Mexican capital and southern areas after a long and powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake left 11 hurt and damaged dozens of buildings, officials said Wednesday.

Aftershocks of up to 5.0-magnitude continued some 12 hours after the quake, which occurred just after midday Tuesday with its epicenter south of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, according to the National Seismological Service.

Experts surveyed cracks in walls and roads and twisted train lines in central and southern areas and the sprawling capital Wednesday.

“The urban infrastructure of the city perfectly supported the quake,” said Elias Moreno Brizuela, director of the city’s civil protection services, on W Radio.

“Up to now we’ve seen no structural damage.”

The quake was one of the strongest to shake the capital since 1985, when an 8.1-magnitude temblor left between 6,000 and 30,000 dead, according to officials and rescue organizations respectively.

Guerrero state governor Angel Aguirre said that some 1,600 houses in four municipalities of the coastal region known as the Costa Chica, in Guerrero and Oaxaca states, had been damaged in the quake.