A strong earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday, shaking buildings thousands of miles away in the capital, coinciding with the anniversary of two strong earthquakes in 1985 and 2017, according to seismologists.
The National Seismological Agency put the quake’s intensity at 7.4, while the US Geological Survey said it was 7.6.
The epicenter was located 59 kilometers (37 miles) south of Qualcomman in the Pacific coast state of Michoacan, and hundreds of kilometers west of the capital, Mexico, according to the Mexican agency.
“We sincerely hope that nothing serious has happened,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on Twitter.
“So far, we have not reported any damage,” Claudia Sheinbaum, mayor of the Mexican capital, also tweeted.
Residents of the capital took to the streets only half an hour following they had undergone earthquake training.
“We didn’t think that what was happening was real. But it did happen. Again the ground is shaking very strongly,” Karina Suarez, 37, told AFP in the center of the capital.
The authorities organize earthquake training every year on the anniversary of the two major earthquakes on September 19, 1985 and 2017.
On September 19, 2017, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed 369 people.
On the same date in 1985, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake devastated central Mexico, leaving more than ten thousand people dead, most of them in the capital.
From a previous earthquake in Mexico
From a previous earthquake in Mexico
From a previous earthquake in Mexico