FIFTEEN people confirmed dead in Mexico's biggest earthquake for a century as coastal homes are evacuated over fears of a three-meter high tsunami and a million are left without power

Buildings have collapsed and emergency crews have been working through the night after the 8.1 magnitude quake struck

At least 15 have been killed in Mexico's biggest earthquake for a century with 8.1-magnitude tremors sparking evacuations in coastal areas over fears of a three-meter high tsunami.

The earthquake was felt across Mexico, toppling houses, shaking buildings in the country's capital and leaving a million without power amid reports tremors were detected as a far away as Austin, Texas - more than 1,300 miles from the epicentre.

A 3.3ft tsunami has already been detected in Mexico after the quake struck at 11.49pm last night, 76 miles southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 43 miles. But Seismologists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it could grow to 12ft andresidents in Puerto Madero in Chiapas are being evacuated as a precaution.

Terrified residents in Mexico City ran out into the streets after the quake struck, witnesses said. Tremors were the strongest in a hundred years, according to President Enrique Pena Nieto - greater even than a devastating earthquake in 1985 that hit the capital flattening swathes of the city and killing thousands.

The US Tsunami Warning System said widespread hazardous tsunami waves were possible within the next three hours on the Pacific coasts of several central American countries - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador and Honduras.

As far as 8,700 miles away in the Philippines, the national disaster agency put the country's entire eastern seaboard on alert.
Rescuers in southern Mexico are already battling to remove rubble from collapsed buildings after the earthquake struck

Preparations: A hospital evacuated its patients and staff in Puebla after the earthquake struck amid reports at least 15 people have been killed

Emergency: This was the scene after patients and doctors fled from a hospital in Mexico City as the earthquake struck

Aftermath: This was the scene in a shopping centre in Mexico after it was violently shaken by the earthquake overnight