International

A magnitude 8.4 earthquake has been reported off the coast of Mexico, with residents told to evacuate and a tsunami warning issued for the region and neighbouring countries.

The quake struck 200km south-west of the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez just after midnight on Thursday local time.The Pacific tsunami warning centre said hazardous waves could be possible “within the next three hours” for the coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, El Savador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and Ecuador.n an updated warning, they predicted waves over 3m for parts of the Mexican coast, and waves between 0.3 and 1 meters for the Cook Islands, Ecuador, French Polynesia, Guatemala and Kiribati.

Waves below 0.3 metres were forecast for other countries in the Pacific, including Colombia, Hawaii, Peru and Panama.

They estimated that initial tsunami waves would reach the Mexican cities of Salina Cruz, Puerto Madero, Acapulco and Lazaro Cardenas by 1am local time.

The tsunami threat to Hawaii was still under evaluation, said the warning centre.

The New Zealand ministry of civil defence and emergency management said they were assessing the potential of the tsunami to reach New Zealand. They estimated that waves would not reach for at least 12 hours.