A massive earthquake rocked western Mexico on the anniversary of two terrible quakes, killing at least one person, damaging structures, and sending Mexico City residents fleeing for safety.
A department store roof collapsed in Manzanillo, killing one person, the officials reported. Several hospitals in Michoacan, near the quake’s epicenter, were damaged. The ministry reported one hospital patient was harmed by falling glass.
The magnitude 7.6 quakes occurred shortly after 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) between the western coast and the Michoacan-Colima border, where Manzanillo is located.
The depth of the earthquake was barely 15 kilometres (9 miles), hence its effects were likely magnified.
Several locations along the coast of Mexico were given a tsunami warning by the United States Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which predicted waves of between 1 and 3 meters (3.3 and 9.8 feet) in height.
Though the quakes hit on the same day as the devastating disasters in 1985 and 2017, Mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum stated there were no initial reports of serious damage in the capital.
Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer living in the city’s central Roma neighborhood, commented on the earthquake’s timing, saying, “It seems like a curse.”
One of Mexico’s most prominent educational institutions, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), has concluded that the occurrence of three significant earthquakes on the same day is coincidental.
Other others, though, were hesitant to accept it at face value.
More than 350 people were murdered in the 2017 quake on the same date as thousands had died in the 1985 quake.
A wide variety of memes expressing shock and dismay at the latest earthquake in Mexico have been posted online. learn more
When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador first reported a fatality in Manzanillo, he indicated only that buildings were damaged in the area around the epicenter. Social media images depicted severely damaged buildings.
Local officials in Mexico reported that a seismic warning sounded approximately two minutes before the quake hit, allowing people plenty of time to leave their houses.
Because the government had sounded the alert earlier in the day as part of a rehearsal exercise honoring the past earthquakes on the same day, several residents in the capital had trouble believing it was a real quake.
Mahnur is MS(development Studies)Student at NUST University, completed BS Hons in Eng Literature. Content Writer, Policy analyst, Climate Change specialist, Teacher, HR Recruiter.