Véronique remembers having landed in Mexico City on September 20, 1985, the day after the gigantic earthquake that had ravaged the staggering capital.
“The floors of the buildings, which did not respect any rules of anti-seismic construction, slipped by like a pile of cards with each aftershock.
Our plane from Paris, full of journalists and I, had made a stopover in Washington to pick up other journalists, and we were all stranded in a hotel at the airport, sharing a shower, waiting to be let us into the city,” says the anthropologist.
37 years later, the earth shook violently again in Mexico.
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck western Mexico at 1:05 p.m. Monday (8:05 p.m. French time) near the Pacific coast, near Michoacán's border with the state of Colima, where the large port of Manzanillo, indicated the American geological institute (USGS).
It was relatively shallow, only 15 km deep, which would have amplified its impact.
A M7.6 earthquake occurred in Mexico today at 1:05 pm local time near the Colima-Michoacan border region.
Today, September 19th, is also the anniversary of two other large earthquakes that occurred in Mexico – a M8.0 in 1985 and a M7.1 in 2017. https://t.co/upIFVWQunG pic.twitter.com/B8zQWnZ5FO
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) September 19, 2022
But unlike its infamous predecessor, which officially claimed more than 10,000 lives, and that of 2017 which claimed more than 350, the damage has so far been limited: two people died in Manzanillo, the authorities said. authorities, one crushed by the facade of a department store while another was found dead in a shopping mall.
Videos circulating on social media show the mall's roof collapsed onto the top floor, a gymnasium, as people screamed for help.
Impactante #video del momento del #sismo en la region de Michoacán donde se ubicó el epicentro.
pic.twitter.com/5HIxow6Opy
— Azteca Noticias (@AztecaNoticias) September 19, 2022
Authorities also reported damage to several hospitals in Michoacán near the epicenter, which is in a sparsely populated region of Mexico.
One person was injured by falling glass at one of these hospitals, the government said.
Electricity was cut in parts of the trendy Roma district in Mexico City, some 400 km from the epicenter, and an unpowered metro line was evacuated.
The national electricity company said the outages affected 1.2 million users.
“It looks like a curse”
In Coalcoman, Michoacán, not far from the epicenter, footage shows shingles torn from homes and walls cracked by the force of the earthquake.
In a store, goods were strewn on the floor.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said she had no immediate reports of major damage in the capital where the tremor was felt strongly for several seconds, less than an hour after an annual earthquake drill.
Every September 19, the authorities of Mexico organize a simulation of a giant earthquake.
Residents must evacuate their homes or places of work at the first alarm to reach “meeting points” indicated in each district.
The real alert, 46 minutes later, terrified some, while others did not believe it.
99% of the loudspeakers worked correctly, the town hall said.
The telephone networks were close to saturation due to the many calls and text messages sent to reassure loved ones or to get news.
In conference of taking the #JefaDeGobierno informed that no serious afectaciones en la CDMX tras el sismo de magnitud 7.7 ocurrido a las 13:05 Hrs.
El 99.1% de los altavoces de alertamiento sísmico del @C5_CDMX funcionaron correctlyamente.
🔊 pic.twitter.com/B1hwgbPvHo
— Gobierno CDMX (@GobCDMX) September 19, 2022
"It looks like a curse," Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer from the city's central Roma district, told Reuters of the timing of the earthquake, as helicopters hovered over the city for the to watch.
“It’s a lot of chance, a lot of coincidences!
I think it could be a sign from God,” said Federico Garcia, 57, interviewed by AFP.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the country's most prestigious higher education institutions, said there was no scientific explanation for the occurrence of three major earthquakes on same day and attributed this phenomenon to pure coincidence.
"There is nothing that tells us scientifically that September 19 is a special day for an earthquake to occur," said the mayor of Mexico City, a physicist by training.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has also issued a warning for coastal areas, indicating that waves reaching 1 to 3 m above tide level were possible.
