Two killed after magnitude 6.8 earthquake rattles Mexico

A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck Mexico, killing at least two people in the nation’s capital, causing damage to buildings and setting off landslides.

The earthquake struck shortly after 1am (06:00 GMT) on Thursday, just three days after a magnitude 7.6 quake shook western and central Mexico, killing two people.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Twitter that two people died – a woman who fell down the stairs of her home and a man who had a heart attack. Residents huddled in streets as seismic alarms blared.

The US Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake, like Monday’s, was centred in the western state of Michoacan near the Pacific coast. The epicentre was 46km (29 miles) southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of 24km (15 miles).

Michoacan’s state government said the quake was felt throughout the state. It reported damage to a building in the city of Uruapan and landslides on the highway that connects Michoacan and Guerrero with the coast.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said via Twitter it was an aftershock from Monday’s temblor and was also felt in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.

The earthquake rattled an already jittery country. Monday’s more powerful quake was the third major earthquake to strike on September 19: in 1985, when some 9,500 people died in Mexico, and in 2017, when more than 360 people lost their lives.