The quake struck shortly after 1:00 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT) on Monday and was centered in the border region between the states of Michoacan and Colima at a depth of about 15 kilometers (9 miles), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). . . The Mexican government said one person was killed in the Pacific port of Manzanillo when a department store roof collapsed on them, while regional officials reported damage to several hospitals in Michoacan. One person was injured by falling glass at one of the hospitals, they said. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said there were no immediate reports of damage in the capital after the quake, which hit Mexico on the same day as major earthquakes struck the country in 1985 and 2017. “It’s that date, there’s something about the 19th,” said Ernesto Lanzetta, a business owner in the city’s Cuauhtemoc district. “The 19th is a day to fear.” The September 19, 2017 earthquake killed more than 350 people, while the other on the same date in 1985 killed thousands. “It seems like a curse,” Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer, said of the timing of the quake as helicopters flew overhead, surveying the city. Al Jazeera’s John Holman, writing from Mexico City, said many in Mexico saw the timing of Monday’s quake as “really strange”. “It happened on the exact anniversary — September 19 — of two other big earthquakes in Mexico,” Holman said. “These last two earthquakes have really caused havoc, especially here in the capital.” Many Mexicans reacted to the latest earthquake by posting a series of memes online expressing their surprise. There was one of a bird reading a book titled “how to get around from September 18 to September 20,” while another, mimicking a Mexican government announcement, invites foreigners to “Visit Mexico” and “every September 19 , to come alive with the experience of a real horror”. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the country’s most prestigious places of higher learning, said there is no scientific explanation for three major earthquakes on the same day and attributed it to pure coincidence. On Monday, Mexico City earthquake early warnings sounded less than an hour after the capital held emergency drills as part of events commemorating the two previous disasters. “I felt awful. We went down as soon as we felt it, when the alarm went off,” said 37-year-old Karina Suarez after evacuating the building where she lives in the capital. Power was cut in parts of the central Roma district of Mexico City, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the epicenter. People attending an event honoring the victims of the 2017 earthquake react as another earthquake was felt in Mexico City on September 19 [Luis Cortes/Reuters] Local residents carrying pets stood in the street, while tourists visiting a local market with a local guide were visibly confused and upset. Traffic lights stopped working and people clutched their phones, sending text messages or waiting for calls to go through. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” said Gabriela Ramirez, 58, one of the many city residents who rushed out into the streets. In Coalcoman, Michoacan – near the epicenter – images seen by the Reuters news agency show shingles torn from houses and walls of buildings cracked by the force of the quake. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued warnings for parts of Mexico’s west coast, saying dangerous waves were possible within 300 kilometers (186 miles) of the quake’s epicenter. Mexico’s National Civil Defense Service did not issue a similar warning, saying it did not expect to see any variation in sea levels.
