US lifts tsunami warning for Central America, Mexico

Washington: The US authorities on Monday lifted a tsunami warning for Central America and Mexico that they had issued following a strong 7.3 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of El Salvador.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said "the tsunami warning... is now cancelled" for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico.

Quake

A strong earkthquake measuring 7.4 shook an area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of El Salvador early Monday, the US Geological Survey said.

The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 0437 GMT, was located 111 kilometers south of the city Puerto El Triunfo in El Salvador, according to the USGS.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake took place at a depth of 54 kilometers.

No reports of casualties or damage were immediately available.

The reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.