One Dead In Mexico Quake
A strong earthquake centered under the Pacific Ocean shook western and central Mexico early Wednesday, rattling buildings in the capital and knocking off some power.
Mexico's National Seismological Service put the magnitude at 7.0, but the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. said it was a 6.4-magnitude temblor. The was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
The quake's lone apparent casualty was a man recovering from a heart operation who died—possibly of fright—in the town of Huetamo, 100 miles to the northeast of the city of Lazaro Cardenas, Nahum Cortes of the state civil defense agency said.
The 6:42 a.m. quake's offshore epicenter was 30 miles from Lazaro Cardenas, a port about 210 miles southwest of Mexico City, where it toppled bookshelves and scatted goods from supermarket shelves.
The large quake was followed by two aftershocks: one of magnitude 4.6 at 8:02 a.m. and a second of magnitude 4.1 at 8:19 a.m., according to the National Seismological Service.
It swayed buildings in Mexico City and led officials to close the capital's airport for 10 minutes as a precautionary measure, but no significant damage was reported.
The quake knocked out power in the capital's Colonia Guerrero neighborhood, according to Televisa network.
"We felt it strong," said civil defense worker Marlene Ramos in Lazaro Cardenas.
But by the afternoon, officials had only received reports of four people injured, none critically, besides the death in Huetamo.
Pieces of a wall at a hotel under repair fell on a man who suffered broken bones and three children suffered light bruising from other debris, said Carlos Mora, another civil defense worker in Lazaro Cardenas.
Officials in the beach cities of Zihuatanejo and Acapulco to the southeast said the quake was felt only lightly.
A magnitude-6 quake can cause severe damage if it is centered under a populated area. Magnitude-7 indicates a major earthquake capable of widespread, heavy damage.
Mexico has recorded 38 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater over the past decade, with just a few of them causing major damage.
Most quakes in the area where Wednesday's hit are moderately deep, blunting some of their force, Singh said.
Mexico's most deadly quakes strike the Pacific coast.
Mexico City was hit by a massive earthquake, measured at 8.1 on the open-ended Richter scale, in 1985. Nearly 10,000 people died and 40,000 were injured in that quake.
Mexico City's construction in a valley on an old lake bed tends to amplify distant quakes. The 1985 quake occurred 200 miles away, but set the soil beneath Mexico City shifting like sand. Towns on solid ground closer to the epicenter suffered far less damage.