A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck Mexico, causing at least two deaths, damaging buildings and setting off landslides.
The earthquake struck at 1.19am on Thursday near the epicentre of a magnitude 7.6 quake that hit three days earlier in the western state of Michoacan.
It was also blamed for two deaths.
Notable quake, preliminary info: M 6.8 - 46 km SSW of Aguililla, Mexico https://t.co/VXEXvhnzFn
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) September 22, 2022
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The US Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake was centred 31 miles south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of 15 miles.
Michoacan’s state government said the quake was felt throughout the state.
It reported damage to a building in the city of Uruapan and some landslides on highways.
President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said via Twitter that it was an aftershock from Monday’s quake and was also felt in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.
Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Twitter that two people died — a woman who fell down the stairs of her home and a man who had a heart attack.
Residents huddled in streets as seismic alarms blared.
The earthquake rattled an already jittery country.
Monday’s more powerful quake was the third major earthquake to strike on September 19 — in 1985, 2017 and now 2022.
The 2017 and 2022 quakes came very shortly after the annual earthquake drill conducted every September 19 to commemorate the devastating 1985 temblor that killed some 9,500 people.
