Third quake rattles already jittery Mexico
Southern state ‘has not stopped shaking’ since initial temblor
MEXICO CITY — A strong new earthquake shook Mexico on Saturday, killing at least one person, toppling already damaged homes and a bridge and causing new alarm in a country reeling from two even more powerful quakes that together have killed more than 400 people.
The U.S. Geological Surveysaid the new, magnitude 6.1 temblor was centered about 11 miles south-southeast of Matias Romero in Oaxaca state, the region most battered by a magnitude 8.1 quake on Sept. 7.
It was among thousands of aftershocks recorded in the wake of that earlier quake, which was the most powerful to hit Mexico in 32 years and killed at least 96 people.
The government of Oaxaca state reported that some homes collapsed and one woman died when a wall of her home fell on her in the town of Asuncion Ixtaltepec.
Four people were injured in Juchitan and three in Tlacotepec, but none of their lives were in danger. Another person suffered a broken clavicle in the town of Xadani. Three hotels and two churches were damaged and a highway bridge collapsed. The Federal Police agency said the bridge already had been closed due to damage after the Sept. 7 quake.
Nataniel Hernandez said by phone from Tonala, in the southern state of Chiapas, which was also hit hard by the earlier quake, that it was one of the strongest aftershocks he has felt.
“Since Sept. 7 it has not stopped shaking,” Hernandez.
U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso said the new temblor was an aftershock of the 8.1 quake, and after a jolt of that size even buildings left standing can be more vulnerable.
“At the moment the greatest damage has been to the Ixtaltepec bridge, which should be rebuilt, and structures with previous damage that collapsed,” President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted. He said government workers were fanning out in Juchitan to provide help to anyone who needs it.
Buildings swayed in Mexico City, where nerves are still raw from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 temblor that has killed at least 305 across the region. Many residents and visitors fled homes, hotels and businesses, some in tears.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said there were no reports of significant new damage in the capital, and rescue efforts related to Tuesday’s quake were continuing. He reported that two people died of apparent heart attacks during the new temblor.
In a city still on edge, many residents have spoken of lingering anxiety: imagining the ground is moving when it isn’t, hearing a police siren wail and thinking it’s a quake alarm, breaking into sobs at unexpected moments.
Vicente Aparicio, 76, gazed at the building where he lived in southern Mexico City as his wife listened to an engineer explaining the damage it had suffered. He vowed never to return; his family is fortunate enough to have another apartment to go to and the means to go on with their lives.
“But what about those who do not?” Aparicio wondered.
He added: “How does a city recover from a shock like this?”