An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 shook central Mexico on Monday, with a death toll, just as two powerful earthquakes were commemorated that left thousands dead in 1985 and 2017, authorities reported.
Less than an hour after an earthquake drill was held as part of the commemoration of the events of 1985 and 2017, a strong tremor unleashed panic in various sectors of the capital and other states in the center of the country.
"One person died due to the fall of a fence (wall) of a shopping center in Manzanillo (state of Colima)"President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Twitter.
The National Seismological Service, which originally placed the magnitude at 6.8, detailed on Twitter that the epicenter was located 59 km south of Coalcomán (state of Michoacán), on the Pacific coast.
Civil Protection ruled out the risk of a tsunami.
"I thought I would have a heart attack! One in itself reaches September nervous"Gabriela Ramírez, 58, a housewife who lives in the Roma-Condesa sector, one of the most vulnerable in the capital because it was built on muddy terrain, told AFP.
The tremor activated the seismic alert, which sounds a minute before the occurrence of this type of phenomenon, causing massive evacuations in the capital, of 9.2 million inhabitants.
"No damage reported so far"the mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, wrote on her Twitter account.
Authorities in the state of Michoacán, where the earthquake originated, reported no casualties, while residents reported minor material damage.
fatal date
The seismic alert sounded less than an hour after millions of people participated in a national drill, which takes place every September 19 to encourage prevention.
This is the third earthquake recorded on September 19 in the history of Mexico (since records have been kept) after the one that occurred in 1985, with a magnitude of 8.1 and which left more than 10,000 dead, the vast majority in the capital.
On the same date in 2017, another 7.1 earthquake hit the center of the country, with a balance of 369 deaths.
The tremor of this Monday occurred just nine minutes apart from that of 2017.
"It felt terrible. We got off as soon as we felt it, when the alarm went off"declared Karina Suárez, 37, outside the building where she lives in the central Roma neighborhood.
Milenio television reported the evacuation of a building on República de Uruguay street, in the historic center of Mexico City, an area characterized by its old and densely populated buildings.
Users on social networks reported the collapse of flimsy exterior walls and broken glass in buildings in the megacity, which together with its metropolitan area brings together some 22 million inhabitants.
Much of the Mexican capital is located on an old lake, so the subsoil is muddy and telluric waves are more intense than on firm ground.
The 2017 earthquake was of a smaller magnitude than this Monday, but the epicenter was about 160 kilometers from the capital, while today’s Monday was about 600 km, according to distances by road.
