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Mexico: 8.2 earthquake and tsunami risk

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A powerful earthquake measuring between 8,1 and 8.4 on the Richter scale occurred at 6,49 am off the coast of Mexico. At 9,48, there are already 6 victims. A tsunami warning has been issued by the authorities which reaches as far as El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Mexico: 8.2 earthquake and tsunami risk

An earthquake of exceptional power, measured by US seismographs of level 8.1, occurred at 6.49 on Friday morning along the coast of Mexico, in the area close to Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. There are conflicting estimates of the quake's magnitude: the National Seismological Service of Mexico estimated it at 8,2, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at 8,1, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at 8,2. The depth is 32 kilometers, enough to cause effects on the surface so that a Tsunami warning has been issued along the entire Central American coast up to El Salvador and Costa Rica. This is the strongest earthquake recorded in the last 100 years.

The strength of the quake was such that it hit Mexico City and other areas of the country where, at 9,48 am, 6 deaths were recorded, two of whom were children. Tabasco state governor Arturo Nunez said one of the children died after a wall collapsed, while the other was a baby who died in hospital when the electricity went out. The newborn was connected to automatic respirator. 

The mechanism that generated this earthquake, observed the seismologist Alessandro Amato, of Ingv, is linked to the oceanic plate that pushes under the American continental one.

In Mexico City there was no light, many people took to the streets, schools remained closed. The tremor was also felt heavily in Guatemala City and in various areas of the country with a lack of electricity and interruption of telephone and Internet communications in some areas. President Jimmy Morales has called on his fellow citizens to calm down.

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