Mexico Candelaria, 30, was working indoors in the town of Juchitan when the ground shook, causing him and his family to flee.

However, they had to stop in the middle of the street because the sidewalks were also moving and shaking.

"We can't go. The streets are chewing gum," Candelaria, from the town of Juchitan, Oaxaca state.

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern and central Mexico on the Pacific coast on the morning of June 23, at a depth of 26 km, killing at least 5 people and isolating many villages and damaging many villages.

All the dead were near the epicenter in the state of Oaxaca, a mountainous state famous for its Spanish colonial coffee and architecture.

An Oaxaca state official said rescuers were trying to reach the neighborhood of Santa Catarina Xanaguia near the epicenter, where the quake collapsed houses and landslides, burying many people.

A clinic and old churches in hill villages near the epicenter were also badly damaged.

In the Mexican capital, buildings shook so violently that people fled to the street when the alarm rang.

Photos on social media show water from pools and rooftops pouring down into apartment buildings in the city, and construction workers on the 56th floor of a building stick together.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami warning to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, but later withdrew.

Magdalena Castellanos Fermin, who lives in a village near the epicenter, said the earthquake was "really intense", causing large boulders to fall from the hillside.

Eunice Pineda, a teacher in Juchitan city, said the earthquake was "two minutes of torture" and she was afraid her house would collapse.

"We learn to cherish every moment," she said.

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Because of its location at the intersection of three tectonic plates, Mexico is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

In 2017, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit central Mexico, killing 355 people in Mexico City and surrounding states.