Baja California Governor José Guadalupe Osuna Millán says the majority of damage from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the region is in Mexicali. He says the power is out, but is slowly being reestablished. He says Mexico’s federal power company has fired up emergency gas plants to generate electricity after the state’s main power plant in Rosarito, Planta Benito Juarez, was damaged.
Osuna says he’s working with U.S. authorities to see about bring electricity from the U.S. to Mexicali and to cancel the 200 megawatts of power Mexicali exports to the U.S.
Osuna says public and private hospitals in Mexicali have been damaged. The Red Cross reports at least 100 people injured and two dead. One of the dead remains unidentified and the other is 94-year-old Taide Gonzalez, who apparently was crushed by a fence that collapsed.
Osuna is asking residents of Mexicali to sleep on the first floor of their homes, near a door or in a car. He says aftershocks can be expected for up to 14 hours.
Osuna says if officials continue to suspend pumping from the Colorado River aqueduct, local dams have enough water to provide for Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito. The governor also warned of damage to major highways leading to Mexicali.
