Mexico: 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Pacific Coast On Anniversary Of Two Deadly Temblors, 1 killed

The latest tremors, centered 37 km southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacan states, hit on the same day when the country was impacted by deadly earthquakes in 1985 and 2017.

View of broken glass on the sidewalk from a damaged store after earthquake struck the west coast in Michoacan State

Source : Getty

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Mexico’s central Pacific coast on Monday - anniversary of two earlier destructive quakes - killing at least one person and setting off a seismic alarm in the capital. Some buildings have been damaged from the impact of the quake that hit at 1:05 pm local time, according to the US Geologic Survey, which had initially put the magnitude at 7.5, reported news agency AP.

The quake was centered 37 km southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacan states at a depth of 15.1 km (9.4 miles), according to the US Geologic Survey.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador updated through a tweet that the secretary of the navy informed him about one person being killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima when a wall at a mall collapsed.

Me informó el almirante José Rafael Ojeda Durán, secretario de Marina, que una persona falleció por la caída de una barda de un centro comercial en Manzanillo, Colima. pic.twitter.com/CmOsWjei0j

— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) September 19, 2022

Several hospitals located in sparsely populated part of Mexico in western state of Michoacan near the epicenter are also damaged, according to authorities, reported news agency Reuters. One person was injured by falling glass at one of the hospitals, the government said.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for parts of Mexico's coast predicting that waves reaching 1 to 3 meters (3 to 9 feet) above the tide level are likely.

Mexico’s National Civil Defense agency said that based on historic data of tsunamis in Mexico, variations of as much as 32 inches (82 cm) were possible in coastal water levels near the epicenter. The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 186 miles (300 kilometers) of the epicenter.

Irlanda Villa, of coastal Coahuayana, Michoacan near the border with Colima, said some walls had fallen, but the big fear was that a tsunami would follow. “We were afraid the sea would go out, but in the end everything is fine.” However, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum informed no damage were reported in the capital, reported Reuters.

The latest tremors rumbled through Mexico on the same day when the country was impacted by deadly earthquakes in 1985 and 2017. The magnitude 8.0 quake centered near the coast of Guerrero state in 1985 left at least 9,500 people and more than 360 people were killed in the 7.1 magnitude quake that struck in 2017.