Aftermath of Mexico’s earthquakes

Sohan Shamarthi

On Sept. 19, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit Mexico’s pacific coast, setting off a seismic alarm and killing at least two people.

Power was cut and the walls of buildings collapsed, resulting in one of the casualties. Because tsunamis tend to follow earthquakes, a tsunami alert was also sent out to everyone within a 186-mile radius of the epicenter of the earthquake. This is the third earthquake Mexico has felt on a Sept. 19, previously happening in 1985 and 2017.

The earthquake was so powerful that it initiated a desert tsunami. The earthquake was about 1500 miles from Devil’s Hole, a pool of water about 10 feet wide, 70 feet long and 500 feet deep, in Amargosa Valley, NV. The earthquake caused waves to rise up to four feet wide and last for 30 minutes. 

Desert tsunamis may not last long, but they are incredibly rare. The last desert tsunami was triggered by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake back in 2019. 

A second earthquake hit Mexico on Sept. 22. This earthquake, however, did not cause a desert tsunami like the last one. It caused additional damage to buildings, two deaths and landslides across highways.

Both earthquakes caused a volcano to activate, which is likely to erupt… but when? While Mexico is a hotspot for earthquakes, as it is on top of 3 active large tectonic plates, it is coincidental that three earthquakes have happened on the same date in different years.