# Earthquakes



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

A friend from Mexico City e-mailed me a little while ago ... about a 6.0 earthquake which struck just outside Acapulco and which he felt in Colonia Cuauhtemoc in Mexico City. 6.0 is a strong one.

I grew up and lived most of my life in the Midwestern USA, though I have moved around the USA, Canada and Mexico through the years. Not many earthquakes in the Midwest USA. Not like there are in parts of Mexico (or California).

Most of the earthquakes in Mexico seem to occur along the Pacific Coast - in the area ranging from Chiapas on the south to Acapulco on the north. There are others, but this region is where probably 75% occur. And they're frequently felt in Mexico City. Odd travel patterns (for a non-geologist), I know.

Having spent so much time in Acapulco over the years, I don't notice most when I'm there. And they frequently occur a couple or several times weekly. Year-in, year-out. Given much of the construction in Acapulco, I've always thought the area was a disaster waiting to happen. So many repeated earthquakes certainly destablizes the soil and construction materials. Most if not all of the buildings out in the "new Acapulco" near the airport, and the Diamante section, are built to international standards so I doubt they'd have problems. But ...

When I lived in Mexico City I'd sometimes feel the earthquakes. Most often not, though. I have friends who lost family and other friends in the huge earthquakes there in the 1980s. They're still fearful when they feel the shaking. Most all leave their buildings when the rumbling starts. Sometimes, cracks develop in the walls of the condos or homes. Many buildings in the D.F. have been strengthened or other protections added to make building collapses less likely. But it's still a bit unsettling for many people when the rattling occurs.

Such things as earthquakes, hurricanes and other recurring natural disasters probably ought to be added the the relocation check-lists of expats ... because they're as important as anything else we consider. We don't need to obsess over the things, but it's probably wiser to think about the possibilities, ones we can readily identify, than to ignore them.

So, for Isla and anyone else in the 'shake rattle and roll' of this morning, I hope all is well.

http://www2.ssn.unam.mx:8080/ultimos.html


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Longford said:


> A friend from Mexico City e-mailed me a little while ago ... about a 6.0 earthquake which struck just outside Acapulco and which he felt in Colonia Cuauhtemoc in Mexico City. 6.0 is a strong one.
> 
> I grew up and lived most of my life in the Midwestern USA, though I have moved around the USA, Canada and Mexico through the years. Not many earthquakes in the Midwest USA. Not like there are in parts of Mexico (or California).
> 
> ...


A little additional detail…
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude	6.1
Date-Time	
21 Aug 2013 12:38:33 UTC
21 Aug 2013 05:38:33 near epicenter
21 Aug 2013 06:38:33 standard time in your timezone
Location	17.008N 99.355W
Depth	34 km
Distances	
18 km (11 mi) NW of Ayutla de los Libres, Mexico
23 km (14 mi) N of San Marcos, Mexico
30 km (18 mi) SE of Tierra Colorada, Mexico
59 km (36 mi) ENE of Acapulco de Juarez, Mexico
268 km (166 mi) S of Mexico City, Mexico


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Hurricane Jova sure made a mess of a number of ****** homes with the flooding. We also live with the remains of a large beach hotel from the 1995 quake


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Didn't feel a thing here in colonia Cuauhtémoc. Maybe I confused the quake with what happens when a large truck rumbles down my narrow street and makes my building rattle!


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## JoanneR2 (Apr 18, 2012)

Isla Verde said:


> Didn't feel a thing here in colonia Cuauhtémoc. Maybe I confused the quake with what happens when a large truck rumbles down my narrow street and makes my building rattle!


We evacuated the office 3 times this morning.... Fortunately I was traveling to work so didn't have to walk up and down 21 floors each time. Didn't feel anything myself but apparently the top of our office block was swaying quite a bit.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Chiapas is the place for earthquakes with far more temblors than any other state in Mexico and many do occur in the Pacific near the Soconusco. We get so many earthquakes in Chiapas we can´t snooze without being rocked to sleep by them. So far nothing serious although, there have been some minor structural problems with the house we built in 2006 and these damn things keep realigning our satellite dish so we just switched to Megacable.

As I grew up on the Alabama hurricane coast and have seen the incredible damage done by hurricanes there and also along the Gulf of Mexico and Costa Maya in Mexico, we knew better than to buy a home anywhere on the Mexican coasts with the exception, perhaps of Baja north of Ensenada where cold seas prevent hurricane development or maybe parts of the Sea of Cortez. We never thought of eartquakes when choosing the Chiapas Highlands to build a home even though we lived in San Francisco for many years and went through some really scary quakes there. One can´t escape fate.


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## tepetapan (Sep 30, 2010)

I would first read about " the Ring of Fire" which will show and explain the "ring" that encompasses the entire Pacific of the world. 
next would be to study the building codes in places like DF in Mexico. World class construction and engineering . When I say world class, it is not BS. Between Japan and Mexico, they really know their business. 
The concept of the construction and engineering is really high tech in many parts of Mexico. I was in and / around construction most my working like, especially in the Chicago area. there have been TV shows on National Geographic over the years showing the incredible forethought and engineering in construction in building in Mexico DF.
As a side note, My wife (before she was my wife) was in Mexico DF on one of her buying for the business trips in mid September of 1985. Her mother called her and told her to come home (back to Catemaco), she left DF on September 18. one day before the big one hit Mexico DF.
Since I am writing I will also say my wife was in New Jersey , just arrived Sept. 10th to visit a friend. Her friend asked her at the airport if she wanted to go downtown and see the twin towers. My wife said no, we can see that tomorrow. The next day was 9/11...no more twin towers and you know the rest.
Unfortunately for my wife, all her good luck ran out when she married me!


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## diablita (May 7, 2010)

I live about 3 miles outside of Acapulco and I sure felt it. The shaking of my bed woke me up. No damage that I can see but it sure scared the crap out of my two cats.


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## tepetapan (Sep 30, 2010)

You what to see some location of earthquakes check out the government link to separate fact from fiction
Servicio Sismológico Nacional


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## Marishka (Feb 1, 2009)

Longford said:


> Such things as earthquakes, hurricanes and other recurring natural disasters probably ought to be added the the relocation check-lists of expats ... because they're as important as anything else we consider. We don't need to obsess over the things, but it's probably wiser to think about the possibilities, ones we can readily identify, than to ignore them.


It's almost impossible to get away from all natural disasters. It seems like almost every area on earth is prone to at least one of the following--earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, sinkholes, wildfires, floods, volcanic eruptions. 

My husband and I were in Fiji once and less than 24 hours after we left one area, three tidal waves hit and washed the village out to sea. It hadn't even occurred to me that might happen. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

Chief Rolling Thunder once told me that Mother Nature was "shaking the fleas off her back." I guess that's one way to look at it! 

Life is a risk, whether you stay where you are or go somewhere else. I do think it's a good idea to know what to do in any sort of natural disaster. I'll have to study up on what to do in an earthquake before going to Mexico, because I've never lived in earthquake country before.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

There's a Tsunami warning system on the whole west coast. Sirens and loudspeakers were tested a few times some years ago. They've just finished putting up evacuation route signs and safe zone signs for areas back from the beach. Back in the 1930's a Tsunami wiped out the small beach town of Cuyutlan in Colima but no other history of large surges that I know of


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Marishka said:


> Life is a risk, whether you stay where you are or go somewhere else. I do think it's a good idea to know what to do in any sort of natural disaster. I'll have to study up on what to do in an earthquake before going to Mexico, because I've never lived in earthquake country before.


With the exception of Mexico City, and sometimes the city of Oaxaca (and the Istmus to the south) ... I don't think earthquakes are a concern for cities in the interior of the country ... away from the Central and Southern Pacific Coast (specifically). There are the infrequent, other area's where the impacts will be felt ... but it's the Pacific coastal areas where the occurrences seem to be most frequent.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

I read about the earthquake this morning. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known it had occurred. We noticed one once in the eight years we've lived here in the Pátzcuaro Michoacán area.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Last one I remember here was shallow, inland and close. Only a 6 point something but sounded like a semi ran into my house. Sound was more impressive than the quick shake


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes each earthquake is different some make noise, some do not, some roll some shake there is not a whole lot of things to do. Get under a table or desk, do not go on the street get in a corner or under a door frame, stay away from windows as the flying glass can hurt you, stay away from shelves or anything on the ceiling or on the walls that can fall on you..what else?
Do not worry because if it is really big you will not be able to walk or do much depending on the shake. I hate them small or big especially when the houses is made out of brick or adobe.. 
There was an interesting documentary on buildings in earthquake on tv once, they have studied the buildings after the large earthquakes in Chili , Mexico and other places and found out that the high rises or building under 5 or 8 floors, I forget, are safer than buildings with 8 floors..and above. I do not remember how high.
I remember in San Francisco in the Marina, a lot of the one or 2 storey houses were very damaged when they had a large door for garage for exemple on the ground floor.
Houses on hard rock are the safest but places built on fill like the Marina is or places built on two different type of subsoil are less safe.We had an unsafe condo on a hill and nothing broke or fell.
They are so many variable that I would not worry about studying too much. I remember the Marina after the quake, some houses were untouched when the next door house was rubble, same type of houses, it looked so random.


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