A massive earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday, shaking buildings thousands of miles away in the capital, Mexico, coinciding with the anniversary of two major earthquakes in 1985 and 2017, according to seismologists.
The National Seismological Agency rated the earthquake intensity at 7.4, while the US Geological Survey stated 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.
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“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 said on Twitter.
Residents of the capital took to the streets only half an hour after undergoing anti-seismic training.
“We didn’t think what was happening was real. But it happened. Again the ground shakes very hard,” Karina Suarez, 37, told AFP in the center of the capital.
The authorities organize earthquake training courses every year on the anniversary of the two major earthquakes of 19 September 1985 and 2017.
On 19 September 2017, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed 369 people.
On the same date in 1985, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake devastated central Mexico, killing over ten thousand people, most of them in the capital.