Quakes of this size have caused massive destruction in the past.

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico late Thursday and was felt as far away as Mexico City, the US Geological Survey said.

It hit offshore 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the town of Tres Picos in the state of Chiapas and sparked warnings of tsunami waves across Central America.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities, but quakes of this size have caused massive destruction in the past.

Here are some of the most powerful earthquakes of the last 30 years.

August 8, 2017: A relatively shallow 6.3-magnitude earthquake rattles northwest China, followed by two smaller aftershocks. Twentyfour people killed.

August 24, 2016: A quake with a magnitude of up to 6.2 hits villages in central Italy, killing nearly 300 people. The tremor was felt in Rome, 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the epicentre near Amatrice.

April 16, 2016: A 7.8-magnitude quake strikes Ecuador, killing 673 people and levelling thousands of buildings up and down the coast.

February, 2016: A 6.4 magnitude quake hit Taiwan's Tainan. More than 100 people are killed after a building collapses.

October 26, 2015: A powerful 7.5 magnitude quake strikes Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region and is felt throughout much of South Asia.

April 25, 2015: A 7.8 magnitude quake in Nepal kills almost 8,900 people and destroys about half a million homes. A massive aftershock with a magnitude of 7.3 follows in May, killing dozens more.

August 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with a magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.

March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.

October 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.

January 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.

April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.

May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China's southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia's Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.

October 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 magnitude kills more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir state. Some 3.5 million are displaced.

March 28, 2005: An earthquake on Indonesia's Nias island off Sumatra leaves 900 dead.

December 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggers a tsunami that kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

December 26, 2003: A quake measuring 6.7 hits the Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,884 people and injuring 18,000.

January 26, 2001: A massive 7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.

September 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601.

October 20, 1991: A quake measuring 6.6 hits the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh state in India, killing 768.

August 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.