An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 was recorded this morning in Mexico, causing the death of at least two people and unleashing panic in the capital and other areas of the country, authorities reported.
This is the strongest aftershock of the 7.7 tremor recorded last Monday, with a balance of two deaths and more than 3,000 damaged buildings, according to the National Seismological Service.
So far there have been 1,229 aftershocks of that event.
In the earthquake this Thursday, two people died in Mexico City: a man from a heart attack and a woman who hit her head when she fell from the stairs of her home, after the activation of the seismic alert, the local mayor’s office reported.
The movement surprised the inhabitants of Mexico City when they were already asleep.
Many ran away when they heard the alert wearing their pajamas and some carrying their dogs, which did not stop barking, according to the AFP news agency.
The epicenter was located 84 km from Coalcomán, in the state of Michoacán (west), where the main event originated. Initially, the Seismological Service had estimated a magnitude of 6.5 for the movement on Thursday.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the quake was felt in Mexico City and in the states of Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero, all with Pacific coasts.
“So far there is no report of damage,” said the president in a video recorded in his office while speaking with the mayor of the capital, Claudia Sheinbaum, and broadcast on Twitter.
The earthquake was strongly felt in several areas of Mexico City and its metropolitan area, located about 400 km from the epicenter and home to some 22 million people.
After the tremor, Sheinbaum reported that official helicopters were flying over the city and that there were no reports of damage.
“So far there is no damage in the city after the earthquake. I’m still waiting, reporting,” Sheinbaum said on Twitter.
Last Monday, a powerful earthquake shook Mexico less than an hour after millions of people participated in a drill, as is done every September 19, when two strong earthquakes that occurred on the same date in 1985 and in 2017 are commemorated.
