2nd LD Writethru: Magnitude-6.0 quake strikes southern Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A magnitude-6.0 quake struck 43 km east of Mexico's southern Oaxaca state at a depth of 10 km at 0656 GMT, the country's National Seismological Service reported early Monday.

The quake triggered earthquake alarms in the country's capital Mexico City, more than 320 km away.

So far, no injuries or damage have been reported, the country's National Coordinator of Civil Protection Luis Felipe Puente said.

The civil protection authorities have launched an earthquake-response program. Operations involving oil, electricity, water and health care are not affected and are operating smoothly, the coordinator said.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook the same region on Friday evening. No one was killed by the quake but a helicopter carrying officials to survey the aftermath later crashed, killing 14 people on the ground.

Mexico is located in an area of high seismicity due to interactions of several tectonic plates and the occurrence of earthquakes is quite common.

On Sept. 7 and Sept.19 last year, Mexico saw two earthquakes of 8.2 and 7.1 magnitude respectively, which killed 471 people and damaged over 180,000 houses in eight states. Enditem