NU Online News Service, March 21, 1:54 p.m.EDT

An earthquake that struck Oaxaca, Mexico damaged hundreds ofhomes and caused an estimated insured loss of around $100 million,but no fatalities were reported.

Yesterday, the magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Oaxaca along the border withthe state of Guerrero, Mexico at 2:02 p.m. EDT. The

epicenter of the quake was 200 miles south-southeast of MexicoCity.

Catastrophe-modeler Eqecat estimates that insured losses of lessthan $100 million.

The quake and its aftershocks werefelt as far north as the nation's capital, Mexico City.

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Catastrophe-modeler AIR-Worldwide says buildings swayed forroughly 60 seconds in Mexico City and tourists and residents about124 miles south of the epicenter in Acapulco say they felt thequake, but no major damage was reported in either location.However, around 500 homes were reported damaged southwest of thetown of Ometepec in the state of Guerrero.

Eqecat notes that yesterday's earthquake was centered 248 milessoutheast of the 1985 magnitude 8 Michoacan earthquake thataffected Mexico City.

According the U.S. Geological Survey, that earthquake took close to 9,500 lives andinjured 30,000 leaving more than 100,000 people homeless. The USGSsays more than 412 buildings collapsed over 3,000 were seriouslydamaged.

The economic loss was between $3 and $4 billion.

AIR notes that buildings in Mexico City today are well built,made of high-quality masonry materials.

Building codes in the capital are very comprehensive, but in therest of the country's 2,400 municipalities, building codes aredetermined locally and vary widely in application and enforcement,AIR says.