Comment on Magnitude-7.2 earthquake shakes Mexican capital

Magnitude-7.2 earthquake shakes Mexican capital

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake at about 9:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. EDT; 1430 GMT) was centered on a long-dormant fault line northwest of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where many Mexicans are vacationing for the Easter holiday. Friday's quake occurred along a section of the Pacific Coast known as the Guerrero Seismic Gap, a 125-mile (200-kilometer) section where tectonic plates meet and have been locked, meaning huge amounts of energy are being stored up with potentially devastating effects, said USGS seismologist Gavin Hayes. The USGS says the Guerrero Gap has the potential to produce a quake as strong as magnitude 8.4, potentially much more powerful than the magnitude-8.1 quake that killed 9,500 people and devastated large sections of Mexico City in 1985. Mexico City itself is vulnerable even to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that quiver as quake waves hit. Miriam Matz, 45, gathered her suitcases and her teenage daughter to temporarily move out the apartment in the Morelos housing towers in downtown Mexico City where she has lived for five years, after brickwork and concrete slabs fell off the side of the 15-story tower, and long snaking cracks appeared on some walls during Friday's earthquake.

 

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