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

An earthquake that struck Oaxaca, Mexico damaged hundreds of homes 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 with the state of Guerrero, Mexico at 2:02 p.m. EDT. The

epicenter of the quake was 200 miles south-southeast of Mexico City.

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

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

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Catastrophe-modeler AIR-Worldwide says buildings swayed for roughly 60 seconds in Mexico City and tourists and residents about 124 miles south of the epicenter in Acapulco say they felt the quake, but no major damage was reported in either location. However, around 500 homes were reported damaged southwest of the town of Ometepec in the state of Guerrero.

Eqecat notes that yesterday's earthquake was centered 248 miles southeast of the 1985 magnitude 8 Michoacan earthquake that affected Mexico City.

According the U.S. Geological Survey, that earthquake took close to 9,500 lives and injured 30,000 leaving more than 100,000 people homeless. The USGS says more than 412 buildings collapsed over 3,000 were seriously damaged.

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 the rest of the country's 2,400 municipalities, building codes are determined locally and vary widely in application and enforcement, AIR says.

Special Reports /

Mexico Earthquake Loss Estimate Around $100M

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