A 7.6 magnitude earthquake has hit Mexico on the identical date as two devastating quakes in 1985 and 2017, in what scientists labelled a pure coincidence.
At least two individuals had been killed after the earthquake struck shortly after 1pm native time on Monday 19 September within the west of the nation.
It broken buildings, knocked out energy and despatched residents within the capital, Mexico City, scrambling outdoors for security.
The epicentre was in a sparsely populated a part of Mexico, about 90km (56 miles) from Tecoman in Colima, near the Pacific coast and round 400km (250 miles) from Mexico City.
It was comparatively shallow – solely 15km (9 miles) deep – which might have amplified its impression.
Laura Velazquez, the pinnacle of Mexico‘s civil safety company, mentioned the 2 deaths had been as a result of partial collapse of buildings.
One of the victims was crushed by the entrance of a division retailer in Manzanillo and the opposite was discovered useless inside a buying centre in the identical port metropolis within the state of Colima.
Ten different individuals had been injured, 9 in Colima and one in neighbouring Michoacan.
There have been at the least 692 aftershocks recorded for the reason that earthquake hit, with the strongest being a magnitude 5.8 on Tuesday morning.
Scientists have mentioned the three earthquakes which struck on the identical date in Mexico are a ‘coincidence’.
US Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle mentioned: “There’s no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico.”
Seismology researcher Xyoli Perez-Campos mentioned: “The plates break when it’s their time to break. What are they going to know about the calendar?”
However, different individuals consider the date to be greater than a coincidence.
“It seems like a curse,” Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer mentioned.
Jorge Ornelas, a name centre coordinator, mentioned: “It’s really strange, but a lot of people already don’t like that day.”
He mentioned most of the individuals he is aware of begin to fear about an earthquake when September comes.
“If we keep thinking that every 19 September it’s going to shake, it’s going to continue happening every year, because what you think is always what happens,” the 35-year-old added.
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In 1985, tremors with a magnitude of 8.0 hit Mexico City, inflicting the deaths of at the least 9,500 individuals.
Hundreds of buildings collapsed and the occasion is alleged to have triggered at the least $3bn (£2.6bn) value of injury.
In 2017, a 7.1 earthquake killed 370 individuals within the metropolis of Puebla in central Mexico, which additionally noticed greater than 40 buildings collapse.
Mexico lies on prime of 5 tectonic plates, which makes it vulnerable to earthquakes.
Source: information.sky.com”