Key facts
- A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Puerto Madero, Mexico.
- The earthquake's depth was 10 km.
- A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred in the same region on July 7, 2014.
- The 2014 earthquake resulted in at least four fatalities and significant property damage.
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Puerto Madero, Mexico, on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The seismic event occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles).
This recent earthquake follows a significant seismic event in the same region. On July 7, 2014, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, initially reported as 7.1 by the USGS, hit near Puerto Madero, close to the Guatemala border. That quake, at a depth of 53 km, resulted in at least four fatalities and caused damage to homes, hospitals, and churches in southern Mexico and Central America.
Reports from the 2014 event indicated that two people died in Guatemala from collapsed walls, another woman died of a heart attack, and a newborn was killed by a falling wall in a hospital. In Mexico, one man died in Huixtla due to a collapsed wall. Damage was reported in at least 30 homes in Guatemala, along with landslides and toppled utility poles. Classes were suspended in several western Mexican states, and residents in cities like Comitan and Tapachula described buildings shaking and people fleeing into the streets.