Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed on Monday the first death from the 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colima, a state in the west of the country, where one person died from the fall of a wall.
The president published on his social networks that the Secretary of the Navy, Jose Rafael Ojedareported that the person died in a shopping center in Manzanillo, Colima, near the epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred 63 kilometers south of Coalcoman, in the neighboring state of Michoacán.
“In Manzanillo, yes, a person lost his life because a fence at the Coppel store fell, yes. Well, we have to continue, Admiral, collecting all the information and help. Stay tuned,” said López Obrador in a telephone conversation with the secretary recorded on video.
This is the first confirmed death following the phenomenon, which occurred at 1:05 p.m. local time (3:05 p.m. Chile time), less than an hour following the national drill that takes place every September 19 to commemorate the earthquakes of 1985 and 2017, which occurred on the same date and are considered the most destructive in recent history.
Minutes before speaking with the Secretary of the Navy, the president had indicated that “the report is good because there is no loss of human life” in a conversation with the head of Government of Mexico CityClaudia Sheinbaum, who also ruled out serious damage.
“There must be only material damage and in the case of the city I don’t think there is much,” López Obrador said in the video-recorded conversation.
Even so, citizens reported that some old buildings in the historic center had to be cordoned off due to the risk of damage.
The president also spoke with Governor Alfredo Bedolla, from Michoacán, where the epicenter was recorded.
“He tells me that there is also material damage, fortunately, yes, we already have the update, it was 7.4 (the magnitude of the earthquake), it was quite strong, but fortunately not with much damage,” said the president.
The National Seismological Service (SSN) had first reported a magnitude of 6.8, which was later adjusted to 7.4, a figure that might still be revised.
The earthquake was also noticeable in other entities in the south and Pacific of Mexico, such as Colima, Jalisco and Oaxaca, as well as in states in the center and east of the country, such as Morelos, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Just hours before, President López Obrador led a ceremony to remember the victims of the tremors of September 19, 1985 and 2017.