7.5 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico’s pacific coast
At least one person has been killed by a major earthquake off the coast of Michoacán state in Mexico.
The earthquake, measured at a magnitude of 7.6, stuck on exactly the same day that two previous earthquakes caused enormous damage and killed hundreds or thousands of people in 1985 and 2017.
Yet as of Monday evening, the tremor appeared to have passed without that level of tragedy, despite heightened nerves from a nationwide annual earthquake drill that occurred less than an hour beforehand.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that one person died in the western state of Colima due to a falling fence at a shopping centre.
US and Mexican authorities issued a tsunami alert, while videos showed rattling rooms, wildly swinging light fixtures, and wobbling pickup trucks throughout western Mexico.
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Another eerie coincidence
This earthquake happened less than an hour after Mexico’s annual nationwide earthquake drill, which was introduced in 1985 after the devastating quake in Mexico City.
Across the country, about 14,000 loudspeakers issued a fake warning in order to test people’s responses, with millions of civilians evacuating their homes, schools, and workplaces.
Io Dodds20 September 2022 06:00
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Earthquake affects power supply to 1.2 million users
Nearly 1.2 million users were left without electricity after the powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico on Monday.
According to the federal electricity commission, until 3.30pm local time the reinstallation of power supply was achieved for 68 per cent of the affected users.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 September 2022 05:43
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Video shows hotel room ceiling fan shaking during earthquake
A video shared on Twitter showed a ceiling fan violently shaking in a hotel room in Puerto Vallarta when the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Michoacán state in Mexico.
According to local reports, several hotels in the resort town suffered damage, with cracks emerging on ceilings and windows.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 September 2022 05:14
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Tsunami threat has ‘passed’, say authorities
The tsunami warning which was issued immediately after the earthquake off the coast of Michoacán state has been revised.
According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, the tsunami threat has “largely passed”.
Earlier, waves reaching up to 3 metres were earlier predicted to hit Mexico and along the coast of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala among other countries, but recent readings have shown a relative decrease in wave heights.
“Minor sea level fluctuations of up to 0.3 metres above and below the normal tide may continue over the next few hours,” it said.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 September 2022 04:51
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Nothing special about 19 September, say experts
The fact that three different earthquakes have all hit Mexico on 19 September is nothing more than random chance, according seismologists.
“This is a coincidence,” Paul Earle of the US Geological Survey (USGS) told The Associated Press. “There’s no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico…
“We knew we’d get this question as soon as it happened. Sometimes there are just coincidences.”
José Luis Mateos, a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told AS Mexico that the probability of three quakes happening on the same day in the same nation is 1 in 133,225.
On a global scale, the USGS says there is no particular season for earthquakes and no such thing as “earthquake weather”, although one study did find an association between earthquakes and monsoon season in Taiwan specifically.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 September 2022 04:49
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Landslides, power cuts, and ‘nervous breakdowns’
We’re now seeing more detailed reports of how the earthquake impacted various regions of Mexico.
The country’s National Seismological Service said there had been 314 aftershocks as of late afternoon, the largest of which was a 5.3 magnitude tremor with its epicentre in Colima.
In that state, doctors and nurses took their patients out into the streets on stretchers in case their hospitals became unsafe, while drivers reported landslides on highways that impeded traffic.
Authorities in Mexico City said they had received more than 102 emergency calls, many of which involved “nervous breakdowns”. Others were related to the power outages that affected several states.
A bridge in Mexico state showed cracks and had to be closed. The Chamber of Deputies suspended all sessions, as did the Mexico City court system.
Io Dodds20 September 2022 03:32
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‘The roof boomed and fell to the ground’
A resident of Michoacán state has described the impact of the earthquake on areas close to its epicentre.
Carla Cárdenas, from the town of Coalcomán, told The Associated Press that she had run out of her family’s hotel when the rumbling began and waited in the street with their neighbours.
“In the hotel, the roof of the parking area boomed and fell to the ground, and there are cracks in the walls on the second floor,” she said.
She added that the damage to her town’s hospital was more serious, but that she had not yet heard of anyone being injured.
Io Dodds20 September 2022 02:35
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‘Tsunami threat has now passed’
Authorities in the state of Colima have said that there is no longer any tsunami warning in force.
“The tsunami alert for the coasts of [Colima] is ruled out at this time, although variations in the waves are expected, We reiterate to avoid approaching the beaches,” said the state’s Civil Protection agency.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) concurred, saying in a bulletin: “Based on all available data, the tsunami threat has now passed.”
It listed various measurements of high waves from sea level gauges off the Mexican coast, none of which showed a maximum tsunami height of more than a meter above normal tide levels.
“This will be the final statement issued for this event unless new information is received or the situation changes,” the NWS concluded.
Io Dodds20 September 2022 01:23
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Three Mexican earthquakes on the same day
Strange as it seems, this is the third earthquake to strike Mexico on 19 September, though so far it appears to be far less damaging than its forebears in 1985 and 2017.
The quake of 1985 was catastrophic, killing at least 5,000 people with some estimates ranging into the low tens of thousands, while the quake of 2017 killed 370 people.
The inauspicious date may have influenced some of the initial panic that followed today’s quake in built-up areas such as Mexico City. The quake alert also came less than an hour after a nationwide simulation.
“There’s something about the 19th,” Ernesto Lanzetta, a business owner in Mexico City told The Associated Press. “The 19th is a day to be feared.”
Io Dodds20 September 2022 00:10
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Video shows shaking hotel room in Puerto Vallarta
The American TV network WeatherNation has released a video showing the impact of the quake on a hotel room in Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort city on Mexico’s west coast.
“Oh, s***!” says one of the people behind the camera as lighting fixtures, cupboard doors, and furniture swing and shake intensely. “Oh my God, everything’s really flying around.”
Io Dodds19 September 2022 23:00