6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico, 2 dead

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Mexico early Thursday, causing at least two deaths, damaging buildings and setting off landslides.

The earthquake struck at 1:19 a.m. near the epicenter of a magnitude 7.6 quake that hit three days earlier in the western state of Michoacan. It was also blamed for two deaths.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake was centered in a sparsely populated area 31 miles (50 kilometers) south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of 15 miles (24.1 kilometers).

Michoacan’s state government said the quake was felt throughout the state. It reported damage to a building in the city of Uruapan and some landslides on highways.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that it was an aftershock from Monday’s quake and was also felt in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said via 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.

It also knocked out power in some areas, though service was soon restored.

The earthquake rattled an already jittery country. Monday’s more powerful quake was t he third major earthquake to strike on Sept. 19 — in 1985, 2017 and now 2022. The 2017 and 2022 Sept. 19 quakes came very shortly after the annual earthquake drill conducted every Sept. 19 to commemorate the devastating 1985 temblor that killed some 9,500 people.

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