Tremor shakes Mexico City on quake anniversary

Last updated Sep 20, 2022

A powerful earthquake rocked Mexico’s western coast on the same day the country marked the anniversaries of two devastating quakes which killed thousands of people.

The 7.6 magnitude quake hit the coastal states of Michoacan and Colima shortly after 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

So far, one person is known to have been killed, officials said.

But on Monday night, US officials issued a tsunami warning for parts of Mexico’s western coastline.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said that waves reaching up to 3m (up to 9ft) above the tide level could hit coastal areas overnight.

The tremors originated at a depth of 15km (9.32 miles), near the town of La Placita de Morelos.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued in Mexico City after the quake, but Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that so far there had been no reports of damage.

It came just an hour after the city had held emergency disaster drills. Local resident Karina Suare said that the strong shakes “felt terrible”.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted that he had spoken with Michoacan’s Governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla and been assured that there were only reports of “material damage” to the region.

Earlier, López Obrador had taken part in a flag-raising ceremony to commemorate the victims of two previous deadly earthquakes.

In 1985, tremors with a magnitude of 8.0 hit the capital, Mexico City. Thousands of people were killed, with wide-ranging estimates of the final toll. Hundreds of buildings collapsed and the event is said to have caused between $3bn and $4bn (£2.6bn and £3.5bn) worth of damage.

Agencies