Quakes Rattle Mexico City, Oregon Coast

It's been a busy day on the earthquake front. In addition to the two powerful tremors in Indonesia that set off tsunami alarms—luckily false alarms, this time—others quakes were reported closer to the US: (They were not related to Indonesia quakes.)

• Mexico City: A strong quake struck a sparsely populated area in the mountains of western Mexico, causing tall buildings to sway more than 200 miles away in Mexico City. People evacuated some buildings in the capital, but the city government said helicopter flights detected no signs of damage. The US Geological Survey reported a preliminary reading of 7.0 magnitude for the quake, but later downgraded it to 6.5. One of similar size hit the region earlier this month.

• Oregon coast: A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck about 160 miles off the Oregon coast, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake was reported about 3:40 pm local time, west-northwest of the coastal city of Bandon, Ore.

(More earthquake stories.)