Mexico hit by big earthquake

A major earthquake has hit the west coast of Mexico.

The magnitude 7.6 quake shook the country’s central Pacific coast Monday at 1:05 p.m. local time, setting off an earthquake alarm in the capital.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the seismic event struck south of Guadalajara, off the coast of the state of Michoacán.

Initial estimates said the earthquake was a magnitude 7.5 event that hit at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Notable quake, preliminary info: M 7.5 – 41 km SSE of La Placita de Morelos, Mexico https://t.co/VyxRzpO84Y

— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) September 19, 2022

Subsequent readings increased that rating by 0.1, with a revised depth of 15.1 kilometres.

Shaking was reportedly felt as far away as Mexico City.

One person has reportedly been killed when a wall at a mall collapsed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in a tweet.

Some early reports of damage include buildings, a hotel and a hospital in Coalcoman.

The U.S. Geologic Survey initially put the magnitude at 7.5.

The earthquake triggered a “potential threat” for a tsunami in the area.

Canadians in Mexico recall shaking 

For Roger Dupuis and Nancy Negus, two Canadians in Chapala, located south of Guadalajara, it took a moment to understand what was happening.

“I thought Nancy was playing a trick on me by moving this big granite table, which I knew was not possible. It kind of felt like being on a boat, felt like you were on Jell-O,” said Dupuis.

“We weren’t sure what to do.”

They tell CityNews the quake lasted about 30 seconds and was the first that they have ever felt.

They say they got up from the table and tried to find a room in their home where, “If something were to fall from the rooftop we wouldn’t get crushed.”

Upon reflection they say that next time they would go outside instead.

Monday’s shaker came on the same day as two other high-profile seismic events in Mexico — the first in 1985 and the other in 2017.

The first of the two was a magnitude 8 earthquake that also hit off the coast of Michoacán. That quake caused widespread damage as far away as Mexico City, as well as death and injury.

The other quake to hit on Sept. 19, 2017 was also a deadly event, with the magnitude 7.1 event killing more than 200 people as buildings collapsed around central Mexico.

“This is a coincidence,” that this is the third Sept. 19 earthquake, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle. “There’s no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

With files from The Associated Press