2022 Michoacán earthquake

On 19 September 2022, a moment magnitude 7.6-7.7 earthquake struck between the Mexican states of Michoacán and Colima at 13:05:06 local time.^[1][4] The earthquake had a depth of 26.9 km (16.7 mi),^[1] resulting in a maximum intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. The USGS reported the epicentre was 35 km (22 mi) southwest of the town of Aquila (near the municipality of Coalcomán).^[5] Two people were killed and at least 35 others were injured across several states.^[6] A magnitude 6.8 aftershock struck on 22 September, causing three more deaths.^[7]

2022 Michoacán earthquake

ShakeMap created by the USGS
UTC time	2022-09-19 18:05:06
ISC event	624820749
USGS-ANSS	ComCat
Local date	19 September 2022 (2022-09-19)
Local time	13:05:06
Magnitude	7.6 Mww 7.7 Mw
Depth	26.9 km (16.7 mi)
Epicenter	18°35′N 103°26′W / 18.59°N 103.43°W / 18.59; -103.43^[1]
Fault	Middle America Trench
Type	Thrust
Max. intensity	MMI VIII (Severe)
Peak acceleration	0.92 g^[2]
Tsunami	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Aftershocks	2,000+. Strongest is Mw  6.8.^[3]
Casualties	2 dead, 35 injured

The earthquake coincidentally occurred on the 37th anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed around 10,000 people, and the fifth anniversary of the 2017 Puebla earthquake that struck the state of Puebla and killed 370 people. A national earthquake drill was being held shortly after midday, less than an hour before the earthquake struck.^[8][9][10]

Tectonic setting

This shallow earthquake occurred in a seismically active zone near the coast of central Mexico. The earthquake occurred near the juncture of three tectonic plates, which are the North American Plate to the northeast, the Rivera Plate to the northwest, and the Cocos Plate to the south. Both the Rivera Plate and the Cocos Plate are being subducted beneath the North American Plate. The slower subducting Rivera Plate is moving northwest at about 2 centimetres (0.79 in) per year relative to the North American Plate and the faster Cocos plate is moving in a similar direction at a rate of about 4.5 centimetres (1.8 in) per year.^[11]

Several significant earthquakes have occurred near the recent event. In 1932, a magnitude 8.1 thrust earthquake struck northwest of the 2022 event. On 21 January 2003, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck nearby, killing 29 people. On 9 October 1995, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck west of the 2022 event, killing 49 people and leaving 1,000 others homeless. The most deadly earthquake in the region also occurred in Michoacán exactly 37 years earlier. This magnitude 8.0 earthquake killed thousands of people, injured about 30,000, and left 100,000 people homeless.^[11]

Earthquake

The earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting, on the tectonic boundary between the Cocos Plate and the North American Plate. This earthquake occurred close to events in 1985, 1995 and 2003. The United States Geological Survey said that earthquakes of this size typically rupture over an area measuring 90 km (56 mi) x 40 km (25 mi). A majority of coseismic slip occurred directly beneath land rather than offshore with a maximum displacement at 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in).^[4] The subduction interface ruptured at 10–30 km (6.2–18.6 mi) depth and 80 km (50 mi) along the subduction strike. The event produced a maximum slip of 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in). The rupture area overlapped that of a M_w  7.6 earthquake in 1973 with similar rupture size and source duration.^[12]

Tsunami

In Manzanillo, Colima, a tsunami was observed reaching 0.95 m (3.1 ft).^[13] The tsunami reached 1.24 m (4 ft 1 in) at a lagoon near Manzanillo, flooding the coastal neighbourhood of Valle de Las Garzas.^[14] Near the epicenter, the National Mareographic Service recorded a 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) tsunami, and at Acapulco, the tsunami measured 0.635 m (2 ft 1.0 in).^[2] In Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, the tsunami had heights of at least 32 cm (1.05 ft).^[15] Sea level fluctuations at Las Salinas lagoon in Zihuatanejo were observed.^[16] A tsunami of 12 cm (0.39 ft) was observed in Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.^[17]

A seiche reaching 4 feet (1.2 metres) occurred in Devils Hole at Death Valley National Park in the United States, about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) away.^[18]

Impact

Colima

Two people were killed and nine were injured in Colima. At least 2,790 homes across 10 municipalities,^[19] 20 buildings, two temples and seven medical facilities were damaged. Five bridges and eight roads were destroyed.^[20] In Manzanillo, one person died when a fence fell on him and some landslides were reported.^[21] At Point Plaza Bahia, a mall in the city, a gym partially collapsed, killing one person.^[22][23] Communications were disrupted in Tecomán and Comala, close to the epicentre.^[23] A gas tank explosion in Tecomán left four people, including two children, injured.^[24]

Michoacán

At least 3,161 homes and 89 schools were affected across Coalcomán, Chinicuila, Coahuayana and Aquila— 800 of which collapsed. The heaviest damage was in Coahuayana, where 1,143 homes were impacted, including 398 which were razed.^[25] Damage was reported in 21 hospitals but only two had to be evacuated.^[20] Structural damage occurred in eight churches.^[26] Several bridges and communication lines were affected. One road collapsed.^[20] In Coahuayana, 26 people were injured including one due to a gas explosion.^[27]

Jalisco

In Guadalajara, a man's arm was amputated at the elbow during an elevator accident. Debris fell from the temples of San Agustín and La Merced in the city center. At Puerto Vallarta, ceilings and windows fell from buildings, and some apartment buildings showed cracks between slabs, beams and ground floors.^[28] In the town of Tolimán, at least eight houses collapsed.^[29]

Nayarit

In the state capital, both towers of Tepic Cathedral were heavily damaged, with debris falling from one. In the Villas de Arana subdivision, homes and a hospital were damaged. At Ixtlán del Río, the fence of an elementary school and a financial building were damaged. Stores were damaged and items fell in Bahía de Banderas. An abandoned school in Compostela cracked. Two people were injured in San Blas; one during a motorcycle accident and another due to a fall.^[30]

Mexico City

In Mexico City, buildings swayed, and at least 97 structures were reported to have sustained slight to moderate damage, some of which were already damaged by previous earthquakes.^[31] At least 76 schools in the city were among those damaged. One school was significantly damaged and lessons were suspended.^[32]

Elsewhere

In addition to the areas identified above, the earthquake was felt strongly in parts of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, México, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas.^[33]

Aftershocks

Over 2,000 aftershocks were recorded.^[34][35][36] A M_w  5.8 aftershock at 02:17 on 20 September occurred at a depth of 54.5 km (33.9 mi)^[37] and was the result of normal faulting along a NW–SE striking, shallow NE dipping plane or a SE–NW striking, steep SW dipping plane.^[38]

A magnitude 6.8 aftershock at 01:16 on 22 September at a depth of 20.7 km (12.9 mi)^[39] caused power outages in many areas, including Mexico City,^[40] where two people were killed; one after falling from a staircase and another due to a heart attack.^[41][42] At least 22 buildings were also damaged in the city, one of them seriously.^[43] The quake damaged at least one building in the city of Uruapan.^[44] In Colima, a 5-month-old baby died when a gas explosion occurred.^[7] Five others were also injured, including two from said gas explosion.^[7][45] In the city of Metepec, in the state of Mexico, at least four school buildings were slightly damaged.^[46]

See also

•  Mexico portal
•  Earth sciences portal

• List of earthquakes in 2022
• List of earthquakes in Mexico
• 1973 Colima earthquake

References

1. "Global CMT Catalog Search". Global Centroid Moment Tensor. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
2. Ramírez-Guzmán, L; Téllez, M. A. J.; Villa, J. M. M.; González, J. A.; Milián, G. A.; Leonardo-Suárez, M.; Esparza, M. C. R.; Rosa, D. d. l.; Alcaráz, M.; Monroy, E. F. S.; Castillo, M. A. M.; Hernández, M. A.; Seismic Instrumentation Unit (2022). The September 19th , 2022, M7.7 Coalcoman Earthquake: An overview and preliminary analysis (PDF) (Report). School of Engineering, UNAM.
3. "Un terremoto de magnitud 6,9 vuelve a sacudir a México". es.euronews.com. Euronews. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
4.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "M 7.6 – Colima-Michoacan border region, Mexico". earthquake.usgs.gov. United States Geological Survey. from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
5. "M 7.6 – Colima-Michoacan border region, Mexico". USGS. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
6. "Two dead, more than 3,000 buildings damaged in Mexico earthquake". GMA Network. Agence France-Presse. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
7. "Terremoto en México de magnitud 6,9 con epicentro en Michoacán deja 3 muertos esta madrugada". El Comercio. 23 September 2022.
8. "Powerful Earthquake Shakes Mexico on 32nd Anniversary of Deadly Temblor". NPR. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
9. [Strong earthquake shakes Mexico]. Tagesschau (in German). 19 September 2017. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
10. "Tras simulacro por 19S tiembla de nuevo en México; fue de 7.4". El Universal. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
11.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: . United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
12. Liu, Chengli; Lay, Thorne; Bai, Yefei; He, Ping; Xiong, Xiong (2023). "Coseismic Slip Model of the 19 September 2022 Mw 7.6 Michoacán, Mexico, Earthquake: A Quasi‐Repeat of the 1973 Mw 7.6 Rupture". The Seismic Record. 3 (2): 57–68. Bibcode:2023SeisR...3...57L. doi:10.1785/0320220042.
13. "Nuevo boletín del centro de alertas de tsunami de SEMAR: sigue instando a la población a MANTENERSE ALEJADO DE PLAYAS DEBIDO A CORRIENTES FUERTES. Se registra 0.95 m de tsunami en Manzanillo, Colima". NOAA.
14. Flores, J. C. (19 September 2022). "Se registra tsunami en Manzanillo tras sismo" (in Spanish). La Jornada. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
15. "Powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake hits western Mexico". BNO News. 19 September 2022.
16. Castillo, Isaac (20 September 2022). "Nivel del mar en Zihuatanejo presenta variaciones por sismo en Michoacán" [Sea level in Zihuatanejo presents variations due to earthquake in Michoacán]. El Sol de Acapulco (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 September 2022.
17. "Tsunami Event: GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR". ngdc.noaa.gov.
18. "Mexico earthquake caused waves at California's Death Valley". BNO News. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
19. Herrera, Rolando (21 September 2022). "Reporta Colima 2,790 casas dañadas tras sismo" [Colima reports 2,790 houses damaged after earthquake]. MURAL. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
20. "Suben a dos los muertos y a 10 los heridos por el sismo de 7,7 en México" [The dead and 10 injured by the 7.7 earthquake in Mexico rise to two]. EFE (in Spanish). Yahoo! News. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
21. "Sismo de 7.4 grados en Colima deja un muerto, bardas caídas y deslaves I IMÁGENES FUERTES" (in Spanish). 19 September 2022.
22. Delgadillo, Arnoldo (20 September 2022). "Suman dos muertes en Manzanillo, Colima, por sismo de magnitud 7.7" [There are two deaths in Manzanillo, Colima, due to an earthquake of magnitude 7.7]. Milenio. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
23. "AMLO confirma a un fallecido en Colima por sismo". 19 September 2022.
24. Zamora, Edgardo (19 September 2022). "Daños, un muerto y lesionados en Colima tras el sismo de 7.7 grados" [Damages, one dead and injured in Colima after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake]. El Occidental. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
25. "Sismo en México: reportan más 6 mil casas con daños por temblor" [Earthquake in Mexico: more than 6,000 houses reported with tremor damage]. SDPNoticias (in Spanish). 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
26. "Eight churches damaged by Sept. 19 earthquake in Mexico". Catholic News Agency. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
27. "Sismo dañó más de 3 mil casas, 89 escuelas y 21 hospitales en Michoacán" [Earthquake damaged more than 3000 houses, 89 schools and 21 hospitals in Michoacán]. La Voz de Michoacán (in Spanish). 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
28. Torres, Raúl (19 September 2022). "Sismo en Colima deja un muerto y 3 heridos de gravedad" [Earthquake in Colima leaves one dead and 3 seriously injured]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 September 2022.
29. "Jalisco Civil Protection continues with earthquake damage assessment". Vallarta Daily News. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
30. Benítez, Crys (19 September 2022). "Recuento de daños en Nayarit provocados por el sismo" [Count of damages in Nayarit caused by the earthquake]. El Occidental (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 September 2022.
31. "Temblor deja 21 edificios con afectaciones menores en CDMX" (in Spanish). 20 September 2022.
32. "Son 76 escuelas de CDMX con afectaciones menores por sismo: AEFCM" [There are 76 CDMX schools with minor earthquake damage: AEFCM]. La Jornada (in Spanish). 20 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
33. "Un fuerte terremoto de magnitud 7,7 sacude el centro de México en el aniversario de dos grandes sismos". BBC Mundo. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
34. "Suman 2 mil 149 réplicas tras el sismo del 19 de septiembre". Excélsior. 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
35. "Reportan 20 réplicas por hora tras sismo de magnitud 7.7 del 19S". El Universal. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
36. Olea, Adriana (21 September 2022). "Suman 986 las réplicas del sismo de 7.7 grados en Michoacán" [There are 986 aftershocks of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Michoacán]. ANews. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
37. "M 5.8 – 9 km SE of La Placita de Morelos, Mexico". United States Geological Survey. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
38. "NEAR COAST OF MICHOACAN, MEXICO 2022/09/20 08:17:16 UTC, Mw=5.9". GEOSCOPE Observatory. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
39. "M 6.8 – 46 km SSW of Aguililla, Mexico". United States Geological Survey. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
40. "Sismo hoy 22 de septiembre de 6.9, despierta a la República Mexicana" [Earthquake today September 22, 6.9, wakes up the Mexican Republic] (in Spanish). TV Azteca. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
41. "6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico, 1 dead". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
42. "Sismo magnitud 6.9 despierta (en terror) a México; fallecen dos personas" (in Spanish). Radio Formula. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
43. "Nuevo sismo cobra dos vidas y daña 22 inmuebles en la CDMX". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 September 2022.
44. "6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico, 1 dead". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
45. "Dos muertos y tres heridos por el terremoto de magnitud 6,9 que volvió a sacudir a México". EuroNews. 22 September 2022.
46. "Con daños 4 planteles de Metepec por el sismo del jueves por la madrugada". El Informante (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 September 2022.

External links

• The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.
• M 7.6 – MICHOACAN, MEXICO – 2022-09-19 18:05:08 UTC – European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre