Trending News|August 06, 2014 12:14 EDT
Earthquake Today: 6.4 Magnitude Quake Rocks Mexico City
Lots of people were seen evacuating their homes and seen standing in the streets after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City on July 29, 2014. The earthquake was felt just southwest of Juan Rodriguez Clara, Veracruz, the eastern Mexican state, at a depth of about 60 miles or 95 km.
The quake, measured to be about a 6.3 in magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey, blew out light fixtures and rattled doors, but almost no major damages or injuries were reported. A tweet from the mayor of Mexico City, Miguel Angel Mancera, shows that there were evacuations in the capital, but no serious injuries had occurred.
The strong quake happened in the capital city at about 5:46 am. The epicenter of the earthquake was found to be located at about 46 km or 28 miles south west of Isla, a city located in the gulf state of Veracruz.
Emergency management personnel and seismic researchers are currently in the city, conducting inspections. Mexico is well known as an earthquake prone country as it records the highest levels of seismic activity on this planet, due to its geographic location.
Mexico sits on the tectonic plate of North America and is surrounded by three additional tectonic plates - the pacific plate, the Rivera micro plate and the cocos plate. Mexico City gets most affected by the shifts in the cocos plate, since the city was built on what was once called Lake Texcoco.
This quake is the strongest to hit the city after the 7.6 magnitude that shook Colima in January 2003.