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AP - A powerful earthquake in Baja California rocked the U.S.-Mexico border region Sunday, collapsing a parking structure south of the border and causing power outages in both countries as it sent out seismic waves felt from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Arizona.

The quake struck south of Mexicali, Mexico, at 3:40 p.m. Sunday, but damage also was being reported north of the border.

Calexico Fire Chief Peter Mercado tells KABC-TV in Los Angeles that there is substantial damage in the older section of the southeastern California city. Mercado says there is structural damage and broken windows, leaking gas lines and damage to the water system. But he says no injuries have been reported.

Across the border, a parking structure at the Mexicali city hall has collapsed. Mexicali is a bustling commerce center where trucks carrying goods cross into California.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful earthquake in Baja California rocked the U.S.-Mexico border region Sunday, collapsing a parking structure south of the border and causing power outages in both countries as it sent out seismic waves felt from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Arizona.

The 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 3:40 p.m. about 19 miles southeast of Mexicali, a bustling commerce center on the Mexican side of the border where trucks carrying goods cross into California. More than 900,000 people live in the greater Mexicali area.

It was the largest earthquake in the region in nearly 18 years and was followed by aftershocks or distant "triggered" earthquakes on both sides of the border, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones.

A multistory parking structure collapsed at the Mexicali city hall but no one was injured, said Baja California state Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo.

Other early reports indicated only minor damage, but communication in the region more than 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles is often slow.

"I grabbed my children and said, 'Let's go outside, hurry, hurry!'" said Elizabeth Alvarez, 54, who said the quake hit as she was getting ready to leave her house with her children in an eastern Tijuana neighborhood, across the border from San Diego.

Hundreds of people fled Tijuana's beach fearing a tsunami, said Capt. Juan Manuel Hernandez, chief of aquatic rescue at the Tijuana fire department. Tsunami experts quickly reported that no tsunami was expected along the West Coast, and Hernandez said the beach filled back up with people within an hour.

Tijuana Fire Chief Rafael Carillo said firefighters were rescuing people trapped in an elevator at the Ticuan Hotel in downtown Tijuana, but mostly were responding to reports of fallen cables and minor damage to buildings.

The Crowne Plaza hotel in Mexicali had minor damage — burst pipes and broken windows — but no on was hurt, said receptionist Juan Carlos Fernandez.

"There was a little bit of panic," Fernandez said. "Wait, it's trembling again."

Guests fled their rooms at the Hotel Playa Club in San Felipe, on the Gulf of California, but there was no damage, said receptionist Araceli Marquez.

Seismologists said there have been many earthquakes in the region including many in the magnitude-3.0 range before Sunday's big shock.

"The last time we had an earthquake this large in either Baja or California was in 1992 with the Landers Earthquake, which was 7.3," Jones said.

The USGS reported three strong aftershocks within the hour, including a magnitude-5.1 jolt in the Imperial County desert east of San Diego. Magnitude-4.5 and magnitude-4.3 aftershocks were also reported. Another occurred off Malibu.

The 7.2-magnitude quake was felt as far north as Santa Barbara, USGS seismologist Susan Potter said. It was one of the strongest to hit California in recent history. Only one has been stronger — a 7.3 quake that hit Landers, Calif., and left three dead in 1992 — and there were at least two other 7.2-magnitude quakes in the last 20 years.

Seismologists also said a number of small quakes were triggered in a geothermal area in Northern California.

More than 5,000 Southern California Edison customers were affected, mostly with about 30 seconds of flickering lights. Several hundred had longer outages.

In Arizona, 3,369 customers in the Yuma area had a "relatively momentary outage" from the quake, Arizona Public Service Company spokesman Don Wool said.

Only about 70 people were still without service in the rural Gadsden and Summerton areas. But Wool said he expected electricity to be restored there in about two hours.

Clint Norred, a spokesman for the Yuma, Ariz., Police Department, said the quake was very strong there but he'd heard no reports of injuries or major damage.

In the Phoenix area, Jacqueline Land said her king-sized bed in her second-floor apartment felt like a boat gently swaying on the ocean.

"I thought to myself, 'That can't be an earthquake. I'm in Arizona,'" the Northern California native said.



More...

Well, so much for "no damage"...

Truly amazing.. the Mexican people and Country...

They have a 7.2... and they are standing around in the street talking about it... and only "2" people are killed... quite striking ...

I Hatiti a 7.0 causes the complete collapse of the entire country... and the United States and other Countries extend all kinds of help and money...

And Mexico.... oh, they are just taking care of it themselves.. Chili them too..

What's the difference.. they are all earthquakes .... do the folks from Mexico and Chili know something ..... everyone else does not...

Aftershocks expected for years, seismologists say...


The 7.2 Sierra El Mayor earthquake on Easter Sunday caused 2.5 meters of lateral slip in the ground. The rupture pictured here in the Pescadores fault 30 miles south of Calexico is estimated to be eight to 16 inches. --Photo Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey

More than 422 aftershocks measuring 3.0 or higher have been recorded in the Southern California desert by the U.S. Geological Survey since the 7.2 earthquake on Easter Sunday, according to USGS seismologist Morgan Page, PhD. That does not include the hundreds of lesser-magnitude tremors recorded.

Aftershocks from an earthquake the size of Sunday’s can last for years, Page said. “In Indonesia last night, the magnitude 7.7 is very likely an aftershock of the earthquake that caused the tsunami in that region in 2004,” she said. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the north coast of Sumatra in December 2004, causing a tsunami that killed nearly 228,000 people.

For valley residents it might feel like the larger tremors following Sunday’s quake keep coming every 10 minutes, and looking at the complete list of quakes confirms constant movement of the ground in the Imperial and Mexicali valleys.

“Every day that passes, the aftershock activity decreases on average. Therefore, we are safer with each passing day, provided that a particularly large aftershock does not occur,” Page said. “Eventually, the activity decreases where you might feel a big aftershock once a week, then maybe once a month.”

A team of seismologists from USGS, CalTech University, San Diego State University and Mexico’s Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior went into Baja on Monday, Page said, to determine exactly where Sunday’s 7.2 Sierra El Mayor earthquake originated. “We were kind of surprised because it started on the small Pescadores fault and then propagated, or mostly ruptured on the Borrego fault,” she said.

The seismology team on Monday measured 2.5 meters of “slip,” which, in this case, was the earth getting torn in a lateral motion by about eight feet.

Several roads were closed throughout Imperial County following the earthquake. Imperial County Fire Chief/Emergency Services Coordinator Tony Rouhotas announced at a news conference on Monday that ground shifts caused the closures. The county is still reporting closures of the following:

• Drew Rd. from Evan Hewes Hwy. to Sunbeam Lake; from Kramar Rd. to Diehl Rd, including the New River bridge
• Lyons Rd. from Austin Rd. to Brockman Rd., including the New River bridge
• Brockman Rd. from McCabe Rd. to Schaniel Rd, including the New River bridge
• Austin Rd. from McCabe Rd. to Ross Rd.
• Worthington Rd. from Forrester Rd. to Huff Rd., including the New River bridge
• Boley Road from Huff Rd. to Hetzel Rd.
• Jeffery Rd. from Hardy Rd. to Evan Hewes Hwy
• Hetzel Rd. from Westmorland Rd. to Huff Rd., including the Salt Creek Canal bridge

View a gallery of Mexicali earthquake photos here .

Chili??? Or Chile? The California governator announced a package of aid for Mexicali and environs. In his announcement, he specifically mentioned that it was the governor of BC who offered aid first to California when the wild fires occurred. Now, that's nice all around.