Nervous breakdowns, fear and disbelief.
Once again fear has spread again on September 19 after the ground cracked in Mexico.
This Monday, minutes after 1:00 p.m., an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has reopened the wounds of the earthquakes of 1985 and 2017, which occurred on the same day and, in the case of five years ago, almost at the same time.
Despite the amazement and skepticism of thousands of citizens, experts insist that the fact that an earthquake of considerable magnitude occurs on the same date for the third time is a "strange coincidence."
Being in interaction with five tectonic plates, Mexico is a vast seismological laboratory where more than a thousand earthquakes of magnitude equal to or greater than 4 are recorded each year, according to official statistics.
So far in 2022,
The most recent earthquake, with its epicenter in the State of Michoacán, has left one dead in the State of Colima, as well as a climate of anxiety and fear among the population.
Because it was a shallow movement, barely 15 kilometers deep, the earthquake has led to dozens of aftershocks, according to the National Seismological Service, until 4:00 p.m. more than 217 subsequent tremors had been reported, but of lesser intensity and They haven't thrown any more damage.
Luis Quintanar Robles, a researcher at the UNAM Institute of Geophysics, declared in a conference that this earthquake could have originated after an earthquake reported on September 14 in Petatlán (Guerrero).
The interaction of the Cocos tectonic plate with the North American plate means that earthquakes are not distributed equally in the country, 80% of the earthquakes are recorded along the coasts of the States of the Mexican southeast, covering the entities from Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
The National Seismological Service records the seismic intensity of Michoacán: in the last 10 years, 11 seismic events with an epicenter in Michoacán and with a magnitude greater than 5.0 have been recorded.
According to the risk maps prepared by the Mexican authorities, 30% of the national population is exposed to high or very high levels of seismic hazard.
Until 3:20 p.m. on September 19, 2022, there have been 168 aftershocks of the M 7.7 earthquake that occurred in Michoacán on September 19, 2022, the largest being M 5.3.
– National Seismological (@SSNMexico) September 19, 2022
Carlos Valdés González, a researcher at the UNAM Institute of Geophysics and commissioner of the Center for Mexican Studies at the University in Costa Rica, explains that although it seems very “strange” it is a “coincidence”.
Despite the public's concern about the strange coincidence in the calendar, the expert affirms that the month of September does not have any particularity to foresee a greater incidence of earthquakes in the country, on the contrary, he affirms that derived from the collection of data the The month with the highest frequency of tremors in the country is December.
However, Valdés warned that the epicenter of this Monday's earthquake, reported in Coalcomán, Michoacán (about 430 kilometers away from Mexico City) is very close to the rupture zone of the deadly 1985 earthquake.
The expert has emphasized that Mexico will continue to tremble and it cannot be predicted when or to what extent.
“There is no way to predict earthquakes, I know we would like to avoid this calendar date, but it will continue to shake and it will continue to shake on other days,” he mentions.
The UNAM researcher makes a call, given the impossibility of predicting the next earthquakes, to attend to prevention measures.
“This is an earthquake in the subduction zone, shallow, and it will see more aftershocks, they will be felt more in the epicentral zone that will cause the seismic alert to be activated again and it will be felt again in Mexico City,” he refers.
The geological engineer, Delfino Hernández, adds that with an average of 20 earthquakes a day, they will continue to tremble in Mexico every day and at any time.
"People must get used to the fact that we are in a 100% seismic country," he insists.
Although a teacher in Geological Sciences acknowledges that this day's tremor is a "unique coincidence in the world" with respect to the earthquakes of 2017 and 1985, he indicates that there is no way to predict if there will be a great earthquake again on this same date or month. .
In most of the states where the movement was perceived, slight material damage was reported.
The governor of the State of Michoacán indicated that in Coalcomán, the epicenter of the most recent tremor, no deaths have been recorded, however, classes have been suspended.
In Mexico City, more than 1.3 million people were left without electricity service and the fall of the mobile network was reported.
After this new earthquake that aroused fear in thousands of people, Hernández emphasizes the need to raise the budgets of universities and research centers to investigate the thousands of tremors that occur in our country every year.
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