the usgs report some 20 aftershocks over 5.0 magnitude. mexico city is larger than new york and twice the size of l.a., but built on an old lakebed of silt and clay. the high water content in the soil amplifies a shaking. in 1985 8.0 collapsed many buildings. if the retrofit and the building codes are stringent in tokyo and l.a., but buildings closer to the epicenter, they do report severe damage. officials there have requested federal help. president activated the army and their new marines. saying that they could see a 10-foot waves, but nothing yet, over a four feed, but more fatalities and injuries as a rescue teams reach for these extremely rural areas. jon: scary stuff. thank you. heather: all is quiet in the keys in miami today as residents and tourists leave the vulnerable locations ahead of
hello, everyone. our coverage of hurricane irma continues in just a moment. we re also following the breaking news out of mexico where we re getting initial reports of a powerful earthquake striking in the sea off the coast of chiapas, mexico. the u.s. geological survey says it is a magnitude 8 tremor, felt as far away as mexico city. jana pursley of the u.s. geological survey joins me on the line now. thank you for being with us. what can you tell us about this magnitude 8 quake? good evening. the earthquake struck about 11:49 p.m. in chiapas, mexico. at this point the magnitude is still 8.0. it will be likely adjusted as the time goes on and we get more data. the quake is shallow. it has the potential of causing tsunami for the coast of mexico and central america, possibly south america as well.
and it produces large quakes on a fairly regular basis. okay, we re just getting reports that an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit mexico, could be felt as far away as 700 miles from where that hit in mexico city. people running into the streets in their pajamas, worried about some of these buildings falling. what are the odds of the buildings falling at this point? it depends on local construction and where the buildings might occur. you have to over the next day or two, the assessments will be made on exactly where the damage occurred. you really can t tell specifically. we appreciate you being on the phone with us, we ll continue to watch us earthquake that just happened in mexico, 8.0. we went to take a quick break and will be right back.
they have the resources. they ll know where to turn to get the assistance they re going to need after the storm passes through. thank you very much for joining us tonight. and this network will continue to help you get those messages out to the people who need to hear it. thank you. tonight s last word is next. breaking news. a massive earthquake with a magnitude 8.0 struck overnight off mexico s southern coast. there s reports of buildings shaking and people running into the streets. people have issued a tsunami threat warning for several central american countries. the threat was still being evaluated for hawaii, guam and other pacific islands. more updates throughout the night and on mmsnbc.com.
to moderate showers here, with temps into the lower 30s. 9 degrees fahrenheit. hot and muggy across the region. but the before and after perspective shows you the significance of what occurred there with the community buried and again this sort after landscape here with a lot of rain fall in recent days. earthquake in 2008 that registered at 8.0 which would be equivalent of 15 million tons of tnt. that s the amount of shaking involved in this region and also believed to have played a role and destablizing of the land as well. thank you for keeping a close eye on that. appreciate it. thank you. the death toll from an oil tanker explosion in eastern pakistan has risen to 153 people. the blast happened sunday morning in the town of bahawalpur. dozens of people were injury