An improbably powerful earthquake , registering as a 7.1 M , has rock Mexico City , a thickly - tamp city containing nearly 20 million people , and its many suburbs and nearby towns . According to theUnited States Geological Survey(USGS ) , it was a deep - seated temblor ( 51 kilometers/32 miles deepness ) that struck at 1:14 pm local meter . The epicentre was 122 kilometers ( 76 miles ) southeastward of the city center .
Although deep and not centered on Mexico City , the tremor was herculean enough to induce multiple buildings in the capital to collapse ; the damage in Greenwich Village and towns outside of the city and nearer to the epicentre are likely to be harder hit , but that ’s not potential to confirm at this stage .
Fatalities are gestate . The USGS , based on the earthquake ’s seismal Energy Department and location , is estimate that there ’s a 39 percent opportunity that 100 - 1,000 people have die ; there ’s a 30 percent chance that 1,000 to as many as 10,000 mass have died .
It ’s potential to be a costly seism too . There ’s a 36 pct chance it will cost between $ 100 million and $ 1 billion in wrong ; there ’s a slightly less chance it will be as much as $ 10 billion .
“ Overall , the universe in this realm reside in structures that are a intermixture of vulnerable and earthquake insubordinate construction , ” the USGS ominouslynotes .
Apart from the Das Kapital , other major urban center affected by the quake include Ayutla ( 7,000 people ) , Izucar de Matamoros ( 43,000 people ) , and Puebla ( 1.6 million masses ) , which is approximate to the epicenter . All experienced “ very strong ” shake , a 7 on a 1 - 10 scale of earthquake throw off saturation .
The extent of the damage wo n’t be get it on until tomorrow break of the day at the early .
horrify details are emerge on Twitter . One drug user posted a video that look to show a building exploding in the aftermath of the earthquake – although it can not be severally verify at this stage . Other look-alike amount through show entire buildings collapsed , with people scrambling through the wreckage , perhaps to find people trapped beneath it .
This follow on from another powerful tremor that struck the area twenty-four hours earlier on September 7 . Registering as an8.1 M quake , it discover off the southern Pacific coast , and briefly , tsunami monition were given . Although none ultimately emerge , nearby infrastructural collapses killed at least 61 people , and the tremor prove to be the most energetic in more than a decade .
coincidently , the earthquake struck on the 32nd day of remembrance of thepowerful 1985 Mexico City earthquake , which almost certainly involved the same fault web . Back then , between 5,000 and 10,000 the great unwashed give-up the ghost across the region .
As this novel earthquake struck , plenty across the region were taking part in a pre - staged temblor Mandrillus leucophaeus . This may have inadvertently saved several the great unwashed ’s lives .
Mexico City is on a sapless consolidate , depressed lake bottom , which is itself atop a articulation of three combat tectonic collection plate . All in all , the cap is one of the most earthquake - vulnerable metropolis in the world .
