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Strong earthquake strikes Mexico on same day as devastating 1985 and 2017 earthquakes

The earthquake occurred at 13:05 local time, almost an hour after the 2022 National Drill

By Jorge Luis Cortina Montiel

September 19, 2022 3:18pm

Updated: September 19, 2022 9:39pm

An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude, with an epicenter in the state of Michoacán, shook Mexico City for several seconds on Monday afternoon, minutes after a national drill was held to remember the earthquakes of September 19, 1985, and 2017.

"Earthquake magnitude 7.7 Located 63 kilometers south of Coalcomán, Michoacán," the National Seismological Service (SSN) indicated on its Twitter account.

Initially, the official agency reported that the earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and later adjusted it to 7.7. 

Near the epicenter, local media report several damages. The Regional Hospital in the municipality of Maruata reported considerable cracks and a clinic in Apatzingán reported damage after the earthquake, according to La Voz de Michoacán.

The Secretariat of Integral Risk Management and Civil Protection of the Mexican capital claimed that it is in communication with the municipalities to assess the damage. It also revealed that so far no other damages have been reported.

The head of the government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, also stated that there are no reports of any damage caused by the earthquake. However, she indicated that overflights of the city are being carried out to assess the impact.

In his first message after the earthquake, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), said that the country will work to recover information on the toll left by the quake.

"We wish with all our hearts that nothing serious has happened," the president said in a video posted on his Twitter account.

Minutes later, the president confirmed that there are reports of material damage in Coalcomán, where the epicenter was located, and in areas near where the earthquake occurred.

During the National Drill 2022, authorities sent an alert to the whole country of Mexico informing that an 8.1 magnitude earthquake was expected, the same scale registered during the earthquake that affected the Mexican capital in 1985.

In the morning, AMLO remembered the victims of the September 19, 1985, and 2017 earthquakes in Mexico City, considered the most destructive in the recent history of the Aztec country.

In the first case, at 7:19 local time (12:19 GMT) an 8.1 earthquake was recorded with an epicenter in the state of Guerrero. It is estimated that it left more than 20,000 dead, most of them in the Mexican capital, recalled La Opinión.

Likewise, 32 years later, on September 19, 2017, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter between the states of Puebla and Morelos left nearly 370 dead, 228 of them in Mexico City.

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