Mexico's biggest quake in century kills at least 35

Yahoo – AFP, Sofia MISELEM, Joshua Howat BERGER, September 8, 2017

A street is seen in the eastern area of Mexico City after a 8,2 earthquake
on September 8, 2017 (AFP Photo/ALFREDO ESTRELLA)

Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico's most powerful earthquake in a century killed at least 35 people, officials said Friday, after it struck the Pacific coast, wrecking homes and sending families fleeing into the streets.

President Enrique Pena Nieto described the 8.2 magnitude quake as "a major earthquake in scale and magnitude, the strongest in the past 100 years."

The southeastern Pacific coast states of Oaxaca and Chiapas appeared to have borne the brunt of the damage, with 25 people killed in Oaxaca alone, Mexico's agriculture secretary Jose Calzada said.

The worst destruction appeared to be in Juchitan, Oaxaca, where 17 people were confirmed dead, state governor Alejandro Murat said on local television.

Officials said the death toll there could rise.

"There are houses that collapsed with people inside," Luis Felipe Puente, director general of the emergency response agency, told TV news channel Milenio.

A hotel also collapsed in Juchitan, the town hall partly caved in, and many homes were badly damaged.

Seven people were killed in Chiapas and three people, including at least two children, were killed in neighboring Tabasco state, authorities said.

In Tabasco, one child was crushed by a collapsing wall. Another, an infant on a respirator, died after the quake triggered a power outage.

Map showing the epicentre of a 8.1-magnitude quake that hit the coast of Mexico

 late Thursday and countries in the Americas with tsunami warning (AFP Photo/

Laurence CHU)

Fleeing in pajamas

The quake epicenter was about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the coastal town of Tonala, in far southern Chiapas state, and hit at 11:49 pm Thursday (0449 GMT Friday), Mexico's seismologic service said.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude slightly lower, at 8.1. That is the same as a devastating 1985 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people in Mexico City -- the country's most destructive ever.

The quake shook a large swath of the country and was felt as far north as Mexico City -- some 800 kilometers from the epicenter -- where people fled their homes after hearing sirens go off as buildings trembled and swayed.

Many of those fleeing were in their night clothes. Some clutched babies and pets as they stumbled onto the streets.

"Not another one. God, please no," said one woman, falling to her knees to pray.

"I was driving when the ground started to shake. The car was wobbling," said Cristian Rodriguez, a 28-year-old Uber driver in Mexico City.

Onelia Guerra, an anxious Oaxaca local who was in the capital, was taking a plane back to home to check on her family.

"My father and my 14-year-old son are alone there," she told AFP.

Hurricane coming

The quake injured four people and damaged homes in neighboring Guatemala, the country's state disaster authority head Sergio Cabanas told reporters.

The quake struck as Mexicans were also bracing for the impact of Hurricane Katia, which strengthened to a Category Two storm as it rumbled towards the state of Veracruz on the Gulf coast.

It is one of three active hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean alongside Irma and Jose.

Mexico is vulnerable to hurricanes, given its location and its Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, and is hit by a least a dozen weather events a year.

Residents gather on a street in Mexico City on September 7, 2017, after an 

earthquake of magnitude 8.1, according to the US Geological Survey, struck the 

south and was felt as far away as the capital (AFP Photo/Pedro PARDO)

Tsunami alert lifted

Speaking from the National Disaster Prevention Center's headquarters, where he was supervising the emergency response, Pena Nieto said that 50 million people out of Mexico's population of 120 million people felt the quake.

Mexican officials ordered schools to remain closed Friday in 11 states, including Mexico City, so they could inspect for structural damage.

The quake struck at a depth of 69.7 kilometers, according to the USGS.

Initially, authorities issued a tsunami alert for a huge stretch of coastline starting in central Mexico and spanning Central America all the way down to Ecuador.

It was later lifted, but Mexico remained on alert for aftershocks.

Since the 1985 earthquake, Mexican authorities have instituted a stricter building code and developed an alert system using sensors placed on the coasts.

Mexico sits atop five tectonic plates, whose movement makes it one of the most seismically active countries in the world.

Pope Francis, at an open air mass on a visit to Colombia, said he was praying "for those who have lost their lives and their families" in the quake.

#UPDATE #HurricaneKatia strengthens to Category Two as Atlantic tropical mega-storms break records in 2017 https://t.co/4cRbW5IkF0 pic.twitter.com/WEqzksWJ0C

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 8, 2017

Related Articles:

Hurricane records broken in 2017

Cyclones and climate change: connecting the dots

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”