People react after the quake alarm activated in Mexico City, Mexico, on Monday. Reuters

A powerful earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday, shaking buildings hundreds of miles away in Mexico City on the anniversary of two major tremors in 1985 and 2017, seismologists said.

The national seismological agency reported the quake was of magnitude 7.4, while the United States Geological Survey estimated it at 7.6.

The epicenter was located 59 kilometers south of Coalcoman in the state of Michoacan on the Pacific coast and several hundred kilometers west of Mexico City, according to Mexican seismologists.

Mexico City's earthquake alarms rang out less than an hour after the capital held emergency disaster drills, sending people spilling out into the streets again.

"It felt terrible," Karina Suarez, 37, said after evacuating the building where she lives in the capital.

"So far no damage has been reported," Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted.

On September 19, 1985 a 8.1 magnitude quake in Mexico City killed more than 10,000 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings.

On the anniversary of that earthquake in 2017, a 7.1 quake left around 370 people dead, mainly in the capital.

Agence France-Press