A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Mexico near the Mexico-US border rocked buildings as far away as Los Angeles, and was felt in a wide area in the two countries, officials said.

Mexican officials reported some minor injuries and damage to buildings in Mexicali, a border city near the epicenter.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at 3:40 pm (2240 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) was located 26 kilometers (16 miles) south-southwest of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico.

It was 64 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of San Luis, in the US state of Arizona.

The USGS first reported a 6.9 magnitude quake but later upgraded its assessment.

Several aftershocks were reported, including a 5.1-magnitude temblor in Imperial, California, just north of Mexicali.

In Mexicali, "at least one building collapse and other public and private buildings were damaged," civil defense director Alfredo Escobedo told CNN television.

He added that there were "some injured but not seriously."

Earlier, officials had said they were waiting for communications to be restored to get a better assessment.

"This is a large quake with the potential of causing damage because it is not far from a population center," said Carlos Valdez, director of the National Seismological Institute.

He said the epicenter was just 18 kilometers (12 miles) from Mexicali, a city of 900,000 people.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said its initial assessment found "no significant damage or injuries" but had responded to an increase in automatic alarms and stuck elevators.

The fire department was checking transportation infrastructure, large public venues, apartment buildings and power lines from the ground and the air to ensure safety.

The temblor was forceful enough to move buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego in southern California, as well as in Arizona, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Times said rides were temporarily closed at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim.

KABC Television in Los Angeles said high-rise buildings in that city and in San Diego rocked back and forth when the quake hit and that some residents saw electric power poles moving.

The Yuma, Arizona, the sheriff's department told AFP it was responding to many building alarms but that it had no immediate reports of injuries.

"A little bit of everything" fell down every aisle of Fry's grocery store, front-end manager Karla Favela told The Yuma Sun.

"The first thing I thought of -- have you seen the movie '2012?' The part when the grocery store splits in half?"

The USSG said the quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada, some 460 kilometers (290 miles) from the epicenter as well as in Los Angeles, 360 kilometers (224 miles) away, and in Phoenix, Arizona, 300 kilometers (186 miles) away.

The earthquake came within weeks of two catastrophic quakes in the Americas.

A January 12 temblor of 7.0 magnitude in Haiti killed an estimated 230,000 people.

In Chile, a massive 8.8 quake on February 27 left an estimated 452 people dead.

- AFP