At least 29 people have died after the most powerful earthquake to hit Mexico in a century struck off the country’s southern coast.

The Epicentre. Source: CNN

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.1, hit just before midnight on Thursday, and was felt as far as Mexico City and Guatemala City. It registered off Mexico’s southern coast while just heavy rains from Hurricane Katia lashed the east.

The quake’s epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean, some 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) southeast of the capital and 74 miles (120 kilometres) from the Pacific coast.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto stated that the quake was the strongest earthquake Mexico has experienced in 100 years. It hit at a time when many people would have been sleeping. The Governor of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat, reported that 23 people lost their lives in his State alone. Four others have died in Chiapas state and two in Tabasco.

The earthquake caused power outages in some areas but it has been reported that about 74 percent of the outages have been fixed. Some areas also experiences water outage, but report has it that fixing that would take between 36 and 48 hours.