6.8 magnitude earthquake rocks Mexico, 1 dead

MEXICO — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 hit Mexico early Thursday, causing buildings to sway and killing at least one person in the nation’s capital.

The quake struck shortly after 1 a.m., just three days after a 7.6 magnitude quake rocked western and central Mexico, killing two people.

The US Geological Survey said Thursday’s quake, like Monday’s, was centered in the western state of Michoacan, near the Pacific coast. The epicenter was about 29 miles (46 kilometers) south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of about 15 miles (24.1 kilometers).

The Michoacan state government said the quake was felt across the state. He reported damage to a building in the town of Uruapan and landslides on the highway that connects Michoacan and Guerrero to the coast.

President Andrés Manuel López 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 via Twitter that a woman died in a central neighborhood when she fell down the stairs of her home. Residents were packed into the streets as seismic alarms sounded.

The earthquake rocked an already nervous country. Monday’s strongest earthquake was the third major earthquake to strike on September 19 – in 1985, 2017 and now 2022. The earthquakes of September 19, 2017 and 2022 occurred very shortly after the exercise annual earthquake held every September 19 to commemorate the devastating devastation of the 1985 earthquake which killed some 9,500 people.