On 19 September 2022, a moment magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck between the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

s of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

and Colima at 13:05:06 local time. The earthquake had a depth of , resulting in a maximum intensity of VIII (''Severe'') on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. The

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

reported the epicentre was southeast of the town of Aquila (near the municipality of Coalcomán). Two people were killed and at least 35 others were injured across several states. A magnitude 6.8 aftershock struck on 22 September, causing three more deaths. The earthquake coincidentally occurred on the 37th anniversary of the

1985 Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...

, which killed around 10,000 people, and the fifth anniversary of the

2017 Puebla earthquake The 2017 Puebla earthquake struck at 13:14 CDT (18:14 UTC) on 19 September 2017 with an estimated magnitude of and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about south of the city of Puebla, Mexico. The earthquake caused d ...

that struck the state of

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

and killed 370 people. A national earthquake drill was being held shortly after midday, less than an hour before the earthquake struck.

Tectonic setting

This shallow earthquake occurred in a seismically active zone near the coast of central Mexico. The earthquake occurred near the juncture of three

tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

, which are the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...

to the northeast, the

Rivera Plate The Rivera Plate is a small tectonic plate (a microplate) located off the west coast of Mexico, just south of the Baja California Peninsula. It is bounded on the northwest by the East Pacific Rise, on the southwest by the Rivera Transform Faul ...

to the northwest, and the

Cocos Plate The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon Plate ...

to the south. Both the Rivera Plate and the Cocos Plate are being

subducted Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

beneath the North American Plate. The slower subducting Rivera Plate is moving northwest at about per year relative to the North American Plate and the faster Cocos plate is moving in a similar direction at a rate of about per year. Several significant earthquakes have occurred near the recent event. In 1932, a magnitude 8.1 thrust earthquake struck northwest of the 2022 event. On 21 January 2003, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck nearby, killing 29 people. On 9 October 1995, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck west of the 2022 event, killing 49 people and leaving 1,000 others homeless. The most deadly earthquake in the region also occurred in

exactly 37 years earlier. This magnitude 8.0 earthquake killed thousands of people, injured about 30,000, and left 100,000 people homeless.

Earthquake

The earthquake occurred as a result of

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

ing, on the tectonic boundary between the Cocos Plate and the North American Plate. This earthquake occurred close to events in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. The United States Geological Survey said that earthquakes of this size typically

rupture Rupture may refer to: General * Rupture (engineering), a failure of tough ductile materials loaded in tension Anatomy and medicine * Abdominal hernia, formerly referred to as "a rupture" * Achilles tendon rupture * Rupture of membranes, a "wate ...

over an area measuring x . A majority of coseismic slip occurred directly beneath land rather than offshore with a maximum displacement at . The subduction interface ruptured at depth and along the subduction strike. The event produced a maximum slip of . The rupture area overlapped that of a 7.6 earthquake in 1973 with similar rupture size and source duration.

Tsunami

In Manzanillo, Colima, a tsunami was observed reaching . The tsunami reached at a lagoon near Manzanillo, flooding the coastal neighbourhood of Valle de Las Garzas. Near the epicenter, the National Mareographic Service recorded a tsunami, and at Acapulco, the tsunami measured . In Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, the tsunami had heights of at least . Sea level fluctuations at Las Salinas lagoon in Zihuatanejo were observed. A tsunami of was observed in Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. A

seiche A seiche ( ) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, caves and seas. The key requirement for formation o ...

reaching occurred in Devils Hole at

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...

in the United States, about away.

Impact

Colima

Two people were killed and nine were injured in Colima. At least 2,790 homes across 10 municipalities, 20 buildings, two temples and seven medical facilities were damaged. Five bridges and eight roads were destroyed. In Manzanillo, one person died when a fence fell on him and some landslides were reported. At Point Plaza Bahia, a mall in the city, a gym partially collapsed, killing one person. Communications were disrupted in

Tecomán Tecomán is a city and seat of the municipality of Tecomán in the Mexican state of Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the 32 Fe ...

and

Comala Comala () is a town and municipality located in the Mexican state of Colima, near the state capital of Colima. It has been nicknamed the “White Village of America” as the facades of the buildings in town have all been painted white since the 1 ...

, close to the epicentre. A gas tank explosion in Tecomán left four people, including two children, injured.

Michoacán

At least 3,161 homes and 89 schools were affected across Coalcomán, Chinicuila, Coahuayana and Aquila— 800 of which collapsed. The heaviest damage was in Coahuayana, where 1,143 homes were impacted, including 398 which were razed. Damage was reported in 21 hospitals but only two had to be evacuated. Structural damage occurred in eight churches. Several bridges and communication lines were affected. One road collapsed. In Coahuayana, 26 people were injured including one due to a gas explosion.

Jalisco

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, a man's arm was amputated at the elbow during an elevator accident. Debris fell from the temples of San Agustín and La Merced in the city center. At

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...

, ceilings and windows fell from buildings, and some apartment buildings showed cracks between slabs, beams and ground floors. In the town of Tolimán, at least eight houses collapsed.

Nayarit

In the state capital, both towers of Tepic Cathedral were heavily damaged, with debris falling from one. In the Villas de Arana subdivision, homes and a hospital were damaged. At Ixtlán del Río, the fence of an elementary school and a financial building were damaged. Stores were damaged and items fell in

Bahía de Banderas Bahía de Banderas (, Spanish for ''Bay of Flags'') is a bay on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, within the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit. It is also the name of an administrative municipality, located on the bay in Nayarit state. The port ...

. An abandoned school in Compostela cracked. Two people were injured in San Blas; one during a motorcycle accident and another due to a fall.

Mexico City

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, buildings swayed, and at least 97 structures were reported to have sustained slight to moderate damage, some of which were already damaged by previous earthquakes. At least 76 schools in the city were among those damaged. One school was significantly damaged and lessons were suspended.

Elsewhere

In addition to the areas identified above, the earthquake was felt strongly in parts of

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

, Guerrero, Hidalgo, México,

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

, and Zacatecas.

Aftershocks

Over 2,000 aftershocks were recorded. A 5.8 aftershock at 02:17 on 20 September occurred at a depth of and was the result of normal faulting along a NW–SE striking, shallow NE dipping plane or a SE–NW striking, steep SW dipping plane. A magnitude 6.8 aftershock at 01:16 on 22 September at a depth of caused power outages in many areas, including

, where two people were killed; one after falling from a staircase and another due to a heart attack. At least 22 buildings were also damaged in the city, one of them seriously. The quake damaged at least one building in the city of Uruapan. In Colima, a 5-month-old baby died when a gas explosion occurred. Five others were also injured, including two from said gas explosion. In the city of

Metepec Metepec () is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico and is located directly to the east of the state capital, Toluca, at an altitude of above sea level. The center of Mexico City lies some 50 km further to the east. The city of ...

, in the

state of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, at least four school buildings were slightly damaged.

References

External links

*
M 7.6 – MICHOACAN, MEXICO – 2022-09-19 18:05:08 UTC
–

European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC; french: Centre Sismologique Euro-Méditerranéen, ) is an international, non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation. The European-Mediterranean region is prone to destructive earthquak ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michoacán earthquake, 2022 2022 earthquakes 2022 in Mexico 21st century in Michoacán September 2022 events in Mexico Earthquakes in Mexico History of Colima History of Jalisco History of Nayarit 2022 tsunamis 2022 disasters in Mexico