Mexico rocked by HUGE earthquake: Five dead after TSUNAMI hits as Hurricane Irma roars by

A tsunami has been confirmed by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and is now heading north after the quake struck near Chiapas, a region in southern Mexico along the Middle America Trench, shortly after midnight.

Mexico’s interior minister has confirmed that five people have been killed and images emerging on social media reveal some of the damage caused by the quake.

More than 1.5 million people felt the enormous quake as buildings shook in Mexico City and tremors were also felt in neighbouring Guatemala.

In Mexico City, one of the biggest capitals in the world, people ran into the streets in their pyjamas after the quake struck just before midnight.

Luis Carlos Briceno, an architect, 31, who was visiting Mexico City said: “I had never been anywhere where the earth moved so much. At first I laughed, but when the lights went out I didn’t know what to do. I nearly fell over.”

Mexico’s civil protection agency originally said it was the strongest earthquake to hit the country since a devastating 1985 tremor that toppled buildings and killed thousands.

However Xyoli Pérez, director of the National Seismological Service (SMN), confirmed that the earthquake had the greatest magnitude that has ever been recorded in Mexico’s history.

The epicentre was 76 miles (123 km) southwest of the town of Pijijiapan in the southern state of Chiapas, at a depth of 43 miles.

The quake triggered waves as high as 2.3 ft (0.7 m) in Mexico, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said. It said widespread and hazardous tsunami waves were possible within three hours leading to tsunami warnings being put in place for all of Central America too, as well as Ecuador and northern Peru.

There are also warnings in place on the other side of the Pacific, with New Zealand and the Philippines warning that deadly waves could strike.

There were six aftershocks too, according to USGS, ranging in magnitude from 4.5 to 5.7.

The news comes as at least 14 people have been killed by Hurricane Irma in the Gulf of Mexico.

At 11pm EDT the National Hurricane Center announced additional Hurricane and Storm Surge Warnings for Florida and the Florida Keys, upgrading from an initial public advisory at 8pm EDT.

Irma is just 585miles from Miami, Florida and is currently around 55miles east north-east of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas.

The NHC said: “A Storm Surge Warning has been issued from Jupiter Inlet southward around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach, as well as for the Florida Keys.

“A Hurricane Warning has been issued from Jupiter Inlet southward around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach, as well as for the Florida Keys, Lake Okeechobee, and Florida Bay.”