Update 11/12 – 17:23 UTC
– The Civil Defense undersecretary from the Guerrero province has declared that the official death toll is 2(updated from 3), 4 people have been injured  and 50 houses have been damaged.

Update 11/12 – 13:23 UTC
– As could be expected after such a powerful earthquake, a number of aftershocks have been reported so far
– The picture at right shows the damaged van of the unlucky driver who lost his live during this earthquake. We do not know the exact circumstances but it looks that he was hit by one of the heavy stones on the ground. 2 woman inside the van were more lucky as the far heavier stones where blocked by the roof of the van. The woman were injured.

Update 11/12 – 12:06 UTC
The death toll remains at 3 and will probably and hopefully not increase anymore.
All the fatalities have been reported in Guerrero state.
The Mexico City DF (Federal district) has reported a SALDO BLANCO, which means that there were NO injuries and/or fatalities
– At least 13.2 million people must have Felt the earthquake
– The deep hypocenter or focal depth  is the main reason why this very strong earthquake did not made more victims.
– Based on what we know right now, we can call it a lucky escape.
– The video below shows the shaking while a TV soap was being recorded. We think that this video was recorded in Mexico City, at least 150 km from the epicenter. The video shows very well the length of the shaking (official reports are mentioning 47 seconds, but this might have been the case closer to the epicenter).

Update 09:06 UTC : 
A third death has occurred in the northern region of Guerrero, where a rock fell onto a driver.
Thus we have had 1 death via structural failure, and 2 via rockfalls.
In Chilpancingo, several houses and businesses were damaged, while the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary has a serious crack in one of the towers.
Civil Protection has continued monitoring of damage, mainly in Zumpango del Rio, where the epicenter occurred. Helicopters are flying over for more reports, as people gradually have returned inside their buildings in a city that is ready to receive thousands of pilgrims for the annual celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Update 08:34 UTC : 
The death toll from this earthquake remains at 2. An 11 year old boy was killed when the roof of his house fell on him, and a rock fall caused the death of a motorist. As yet these are the only reports of deaths. Injuries have occurred in many locations from falling structures, objects and landslides.

I Have Felt It map – courtesy USGS

Update 08:34 UTC : 
The epicentral region has been hit by many earthquakes in the past 110 years according to CATDAT – here are just some of the damaging earthquakes within 100km of the epicenter. Chilpancingo has had damage on average every 30 years.
Date Magnitude Lat/Long No. of fatalities
1899 7.5Ml 17.1,-100.5 Chilpancingo damage
16/01/1902 7.3Ml 17.6,-99.5 300
6/10/1937 6.5Ml 17.3,-99.3 0
10/01/1944 7Ml 18.1,-100.6 0
11/05/1962 7.3Mw 17.18,-99.642 4
19/05/1962 6.7Ms 17.009,-99.763 30
30/11/1962 5.1Ml 17.6,-99.7 1
6/07/1964 7.2mB 18.193,-100.509 78
2/07/1968 5.7mB 17.519,-100.259 1
7/06/1976 6.4Mw 17.378,-100.691 0
13/04/2007 6Ml 17.302,-100.198 0

Update 08:11 UTC : 
From such an earthquake, the shaking in the soft soil (clay basin) of Mexico City, can sometimes be amplified many times, and could be the reason why we have seen damaged buildings in Mexico City despite expected low ground accelerations due to the distance from the epicenter. Mexico City was built on a lake originally, and hence the soft alluvial soils that magnify ground motion.

for more, updates, and links, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/11/very-strong-earthquake-at-intermediate-depth-near-iguala-mexico/