Mexico City, Sept. 20 (BNA): A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday, marking the anniversary of two devastating earthquakes, killing at least two people, damaging buildings, cutting power and sending residents of Mexico City out in search of safety.
Authorities said two people died in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, one of whom crashed into a department store front while another was found dead in a mall. Videos on social media showed the roof of the mall’s top floor, a gym, collapsed, as people screamed for help, Reuters reported.
Authorities also reported damage to several hospitals in the western state of Michoacan near the epicenter, which was in a sparsely populated area of Mexico. The government said one person was injured by falling glass in a hospital.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck shortly after 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) near the west coast of Mexico and close to Michoacan’s border with Colima state, where the main port of Manzanillo is located.
It was relatively shallow, at a depth of only 15 kilometers (9 miles), which would have amplified its impact.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas, saying that waves as high as 1 to 3 meters (3 to 9 feet) above tide level are possible.
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mayor of Mexico City, said there were no immediate reports of serious damage in the capital after the earthquake that struck Mexico on the same day devastating earthquakes struck the country in 1985 and 2017.
“It looks like a curse,” Issa Montes, 34, a graphic designer in the city’s downtown district of Rome, said of the timing of the quake, as helicopters hovered overhead.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the country’s most prestigious higher education seats, said there was no scientific explanation for three major earthquakes that occurred on the same day, and attributed it to pure chance.
But others didn’t quite believe it.
“It’s that date. There’s something about the 19th,” said Ernesto Lanzeta, a business owner in the city’s Cuauhtemoc neighborhood. The nineteenth is a day to be feared.
Thousands were killed in the September 19, 1985 earthquake, and more than 350 were killed in the September 19, 2017 earthquake.
Many Mexicans have reacted to the recent earthquake by posting a bunch of memes online to vent their anxiety and find humor in the natural disaster.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also indicated that there was material damage near the epicenter. Pictures posted on social media showed severely damaged buildings.
Mexican authorities said the seismic warning was issued about two minutes before the quake struck, allowing residents time to evacuate.
However, some people in the capital struggled to understand that it was a real earthquake as the government had already sounded the alarm earlier in the day as a rehearsal to commemorate past earthquakes on the same day.
MI