UPDATED 10:11am: 58 people are now people are now confirmed dead following a massive 8.1 magnitude earthquake, off the coast of Mexico,

It's being described as the worst quake to hit the country in almost a century.

But as local journalist Duncan Tucker explains, Mexico City has largely escaped the worst of it.

"There was a terrible earthquake there in 1985 which killed thousands of people, and since then the government of Mexico has built buildings that can withstand shaking, they've installed alarms that went off last night and they gave residents a couple of minutes to get out of their homes before the earthquake was actually felt there."

There have been several large aftershocks over 5 on the richter scale.

Parts of Mexico City are without power, but the city appears to have escaped major damage, despite severe shaking.

The epicentre of the quake wasn't close enough to Mexico City to cause major damage.

It triggered a small tsunami, and has caused severe damage in parts of southern Mexico. 

 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says the New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City had received no requests for consular assistance, and it was monitoring the situation "closely".

103 New Zealanders have registered themselves as travelling in Mexico.

Other New Zealanders in Mexico were encouraged to register their details on the Safe Travel website.