Mexico's earthquake coincidence drives anxiety for many

A resident walks through a street cordoned off amid debris from the previous day's earthquake in Coalcoman, Michoacan state, Mexico. Photo / AP

As the parents of children killed when a school collapsed during Mexico's 2017 earthquake celebrated a Mass in their memory, the ground began to shake again.

"No, not again! My God, not again!" they shouted when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake rattled the capital Monday, killing two people in the Pacific coast state of Colima.

Three powerful earthquakes struck Mexico on September 19 — in 1985, 2017 and now 2022. The unlucky coincidence has driven anxiety high for many. The last two quakes also came very shortly after the annual earthquake drill conducted every September 19 to commemorate the devastating 1985 temblor.

Mexico's national Civil Defence coordinator Laura Velazquez said Tuesday that the two deaths in Colima were due to parts of buildings collapsing. Ten people were injured -- nine in Colima and one in neighbouring Michoacan.

A resident tosses materials from a building damaged by the previous day's earthquake in Coalcoman, Michoacan state, Mexico. Photo / AP

More than 200 buildings were damaged, including dozens of schools and health centres, she said. Most of the damage was in those Pacific states, close to the Michoacan epicentre. About 20 Mexico City buildings were damaged, but it was minor, she said.

On the morning of September 19, 1985, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the centre, south and west of the country, killing about 9500.

"It's really strange, but a lot of people already don't like that day," said Jorge Ornelas, 35, a call centre coordinator. He said a lot of his acquaintances begin to worry about an earthquake come September.

"If we keep thinking that every September 19 it's going to shake, it's going to continue happening every year, because what you think is always what happens," Ornelas said.

Xyoli Perez-Campos, a researcher in the seismology department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Geophysical Institute, said there was no physical reason for the coincidence of major earthquakes on a single day. Monday's earthquake was the result of the "interaction of the Cocos plate with the North America plate", which also generated the 1985 earthquake.

A wall is cracked inside a government office the day after an earthquake in Coalcoman, Michoacan state, Mexico. Photo / AP

The North America, the Pacific, the Rivera, the Caribbean and the Cocos plates all run under Mexican territory.

"The plates break when it's their time to break," Perez-Campos said. "What are they going to know about the calendar?"

- AP