Earthquakes shake up Mexico
- posted: 19 Feb. 2008
- scrollnews@byui.edu
Several moderate earthquakes hit northern Mexico last week, followed by a strong quake in southern Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The first earthquake that struck northern Mexico occurred on Feb. 9. Its magnitude was measured at 5.4 on the Richter scale and occurred about 22 miles southeast of Calexico, Calif., near the city of Mexicali, Mexico, according to the USGS.
A second earthquake with the magnitude of 5.1 occurred on Feb. 11, about four miles south of the first earthquake. About 10 hours later, a third earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 hit the area. Within three and a half days, 35 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and greater hit the area, forming what experts call an earthquake swarm, according to the Southern California Seismic Network.
Mexicali has about 850,000 people. The earthquakes prompted local authorities to evacuate all of the city’s schools after a wall fell at one school and a gas leak formed at another, according to Alfredo Escobedo, the civil protection director for the Mexican state of Baja California.
“We have a big earthquake [above 4.0] about once a month or every other month,” said Salvael Ortega, a sophomore from Mexicali who is studying exercise physiology. “Usually we don’t have to be evacuated though.”
The earthquakes shut down factories and left 400,000 people without power. Many others had to be evacuated.
“The power goes out a lot, but they usually have it back up within a few hours,” Ortega said.
The earthquakes have continued throughout the week with 512 quakes in that region, but only 45 of those were of magnitude 3.0 or above. Earthquakes don’t have much potential to cause damage to structures until they reach at least 4.0 or greater, according to the USGS.
A stronger earthquake struck southern Mexico in the region of Oaxaca on Tuesday, Feb. 12. This earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4.
This earthquake took place farther away from the highly populated areas compared to the other earthquakes. 
