An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 was recorded in the early hours of this Thursday in Mexico, with a balance of two deaths, authorities reported, unleashing panic in the capital and other areas of the country.
It is the strongest aftershock of the tremor of 7.7 recorded last Monday, with a balance of two dead and more than 3,000 buildings damaged, according to the National Seismological Service. So far there have been 1,229 aftershocks of that event.
Two people died in Mexico City: a man with a heart attack and a woman who hit her head when she fell from the stairs of her home, after the activation of the seismic alert, the local mayor’s office reported.
With a thunderous sound, this alarm travels faster than seismic waves and warns of a major telluric movement one minute on average before it occurs, allowing homes to be evacuated or a safe area to be found.
The movement surprised the inhabitants of Mexico City when they were already asleep. Many of them ran away listening to the alert wearing their pajamas and some carrying their dogs, which did not stop barking.
The epicenter was located 84 km from Coalcomán, in the state of Michoacán (west), where the main event originated. Initially, the Seismological Service had estimated a magnitude of 6.5 for the move this Thursday.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the quake was felt in Mexico City and in the states of Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero, all with Pacific coasts.
"So far no damage report"said the president in a video recorded in his office while speaking with the mayor of the capital, Claudia Sheinbaum, and broadcast on Twitter.
The earthquake was strongly felt in several areas of Mexico City and its metropolitan area, located about 400 km from the epicenter and home to some 22 million people.
After the tremor, Sheinbaum reported that official helicopters were flying over the city and There was no report of damage.
"So far there is no damage in the city after the earthquake. I’m still pending, reporting"Sheinbaum said on Twitter.
– Week of earthquakes –
Last Monday, a powerful earthquake shook Mexico less than an hour after millions of people participated in a drill, as it is done every September 19when two strong earthquakes that occurred on the same date in 1985 and 2017 are commemorated.
In 1985, an earthquake of 8.1 shook Mexico, leaving large areas of the capital in ruins. According to civil registry data, more than 10,000 people died in the megacity alone.
Meanwhile, on September 19, 2017, another 7.1 earthquake surprised Mexicansleaving 369 deceased.
Experts from the National Seismological Service explained on Monday that the occurrence of these three earthquakes on the same date is the product of a "coincidence".
Mexico registers an intense seismic activity because it is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, which unites America with Asia and where most of the earthquakes in the world occur.
