Mexican Earthquake

One of the strongest earthquakes in Mexico history struck the country's southern coast. It happened later on a Thursday night. The earthquake destroyed hundreds of buildings. Panicked people ran into the streets in the middle of the night. About 90 people died. The earthquake hit minutes before midnight and caused buildings to sway violently in Mexico City. The capital of Mexico is more than 650 miles away from where the earthquake had struck. Beds were banging against walls. People still wearing their pajamas ran from their homes and they gathered in frightened groups. The violent shaking had made a second national emergency for the Mexican government agencies. They had already been trying to get ready for Hurricane Katia on the other side of the country. The storm was thought to strike the Gulf Coast in the state of Veracruz on a late Friday night or an early Saturday morning. The head of a government agency in Mexico had confirmed at least 71 deaths in the southern state of Oaxaca. Another 15 people also gone missing or had died in Chiapas and about three more in the
It had hit off Chiapas' Pacific coast, close the Guatemalan border, with a strong magnitude of 8.1. “Magnitude measures an earthquake's strength on a scale of 1 to 10.” This earthequake’s force was equal to Mexico's strongest earthquake about 100 years ago.” But it was slightly stronger than the 1985 earthquake.” The U.S. Geological Survey had said.” This group studies earthquakes for the United States government.” The strongest point of the earthquake was in a seismic plate hotspot in the Pacific Ocean where one tectonic plate dives down under one another. These hotspots have caused some of the largest earthquakes in history. One of these was the 2011 Fukushima disaster that had happeed in Japan. Another was the 2004 Sumatra earthquake that caused a deadly tsunami. The area has seen at least six other earthquakes of large magnitude 7.0 or greater since the 1900