Quake kills 2 in Mexico, rattles U.S. states

MEXICALI, Mexico (AP) — Aftershocks rattled the southwest Mexico-U.S. border this morning in the aftermath of a major earthquake that killed two people, blacked out cities and forced the evacuation of hospitals and nursing homes.

Sunday's 7.2-magnitude quake, centered just south of the U.S. border near Mexicali, was one of the strongest earthquakes to hit region in decades, shaking at least 20 million people. It had a shallow depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers).

The human toll was minimal in large part because the energy from the quake moved northwest of Mexicali toward a less-populated area, said Jessica Sigala, a geophysicist from the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We were just kind of lucky that the energy went the other way," Sigala said. "With every earthquake, the earth starts moving a certain direction. It started south of Mexicali and the rupture moved northwest."

Sunday afternoon's earthquake hit hardest in Mexicali, a bustling commerce center along Mexico's border with California, where one man was killed when his home collapsed just outside town and another died when he into the street in panic and was struck by a car.