On Thursday, Mexico experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake's epicenter was in southern Guerrero, a state in the west of Mexico, at a 14.8 miles (23.9 km) depth. Its power was felt up to about 171 miles away in places like Mexico City, affecting the several states and the country's Pacific coast. An earthquake of this magnitude makes buildings, especially those with with weak structures, susceptible to damage.

Because it sits upon muddy sediments on top of empty lake beds, Mexico City is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes as the city tends to "jiggle like jelly" when earthquakes, even distant ones, hit, according to Reuters. Back in 1985, in fact, thousands died after an 8.1 magnitude quake. In 2012, the city experienced a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, but there was no major damage.

Despite shaking buildings and office evacuations, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told CNN that there have been neither reports of damage nor injury in Mexico City. Hospitals, public transportation and airports have been operating at normal schedule.

At the time of the earthquake at noon, Luis Videgaray, finance minister, was giving a speech at National Palace in Mexico City.

"I think we'd better take a pause if you don't mind," he said while walking off stage.

The audience dispersed as well.

"I was working when I started to feel seasick, and we left the office," Andres Alcocer, a 34-year-old publicist in Mexico City, told Reuters.

"It was very scary," Carmen Lira, a 37-year-old secretary in Mexico City, told Los Angeles Times. "Some of my colleagues suffered panic attacks because the buildings moved.".

Tecpan de Galeana mayor Crisoforo Otero Heredia said there was a "wave of panic" in his town, which is just 9 miles (15 km) south of the earthquake's epicenter, and some roofs collapsed. El Universal reported that part of a highway bridge collapsed as well.

A Pemex representative said that none of the oil company's installations are harmed. Many of them are located far away from the earthquake's epicenter. Mexican media sources reported that Acapulco, which is close to the epicenter, is safe as well. A wall in Guerrero's capital, Chilpancingo, also fell.

This is just one in a series of earthquakes that have affected the Pacific coast of Mexico, as well as Chile and Central America in recent months.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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