Mexico hits another earthquake, two people die

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico in the early hours of Thursday (22) and caused two deaths. The quake is one of more than 1,000 aftershocks recorded since a 7.6 earthquake struck on Monday, the National Seismological Service said.

The two deaths took place in Mexico City, whose metropolitan area is located nearly 400 km from the epicenter, near Coalcomán, in the western state of Michoacán. The city said that a man suffered a heart attack during the quake and a woman hit her head when she fell down the stairs of her home, shortly after the seismic alert was activated.

The earthquake took residents of the Mexican capital by surprise. Many got out of their beds and ran to the streets when they heard the seismic alert, which warns the population on average one minute before a tremor occurs.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the quake was still felt in the states of Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero, all on the Pacific coast. He stated that there was still no report of damage, information reiterated by the mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum.

On Monday, an earthquake was recorded in the region of La Placita de Morelos, on the Pacific coast, leaving at least one dead and damaging more than 3,000 properties. The earthquake came an hour after a simulation with the participation of millions of people held annually on September 19, when the country remembers two earthquakes that happened on the same date, in 1985 and in 2017.

In 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake destroyed many areas of the capital, where 10,000 people died. In 2017, another 7.1-degree quake surprised Mexicans and caused 369 deaths. Officials from the National Seismological Service said that the three earthquakes on the same date were coincidental.

Mexico registers intense seismic activity as it is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which unites America with Asia and where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.