Strong earthquake just hit Mexico

[RandySF]

The Associated Press is reporting that a "strong" quake has hit Mexico City.

CNN's Rodrigo Javier also confirmed the earthquake, noting that CNN Mexico's newsroom has been evacuated.

Reuters reports that a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck near Acapulco, Mexico.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/mexico-earthquake-2012_n_1367682.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. puts it close to Puerto Escondido?

bloomberg has it ESE of Acapulco...

sP

Corrected to ESE

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. No, farther north I think... n/t

[malaise]

2. Where is Malia Obama? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. In Oaxaca.

Near the epicenter.

If damage is as bad as it could be, they are comming home.

[Renew Deal]

7. How do you know either of those things?

Was it in the news?

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I just posted in the thread the usgs data

A 7.6 in the richter scale is not a joke.

Oh and the phone system is down in Mexico city, I just tried to call home.

[nolabear]

9. Oh crap! Hadn't thought of that. Hope she's safe.

Hope they're ALL safe.

[Renew Deal]

12. It looks like Oaxaca is near the epicenter

http://g.co/maps/3g7kr

[EFerrari]

14. Oh, no.

In laws there.



ETA: Wait, it's a 100 miles from the city of Oaxaca.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Communication lines seem to be down

Can't call Mexico city, will update...and my eternally, always on Skype mother, is not.

[malaise]

23. She'd better be

Damn I hope they're all safe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Here

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude
7.6
Date-Time
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 18:02:48 UTC
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:02:48 PM at epicenter
Location
16.662°N, 98.188°W
Depth
17.5 km (10.9 miles)
Region
OAXACA, MEXICO
Distances
25 km (15 miles) E (95°) from Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico
42 km (26 miles) NNW (335°) from Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, Mexico
87 km (54 miles) SW (219°) from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico
162 km (101 miles) WSW (255°) from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
186 km (115 miles) E (96°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 15.8 km (9.8 miles); depth +/- 6.5 km (4.0 miles)
Parameters
NST=438, Nph=440, Dmin=312.8 km, Rmss=0.88 sec, Gp= 79°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source
Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID
usc0008m6h

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. thanks for the detail... n/t

[jwirr]

44. That far away should be safe - maybe they felt it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Oh shit, the communications tower must have gone down again

Malia is comming home...

[Renew Deal]

11. How do you know she is coming home?

Is it reported that she is safe?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Call it a sneaky

She is a VIP.

If I am having trouble calling Mexico city, which is is not that close, what do you think is going in Oaxaca 101 km from the epicenter.

[Ruby the Liberal]

45. Whats a sneaky?

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Suspicion

Fortunately damage was so mild that they are evacuating zero tourists, including VIPs.

Damage has been very light. Question, why do I need to listen to Lopez Dorîga to get the WH statement?

What can I say? It boggles the mind.

[malaise]

26. Thanks

[jeff47]

33. One tip for trying to contact people after earthquakes and such

If they have a cell phone, try a text message

Their phone only has to connect for a moment for it to be delivered, and another moment for a response. Whereas a phone call requires a much longer-lasting connection, even to make the phone ring.

Those momentary connections can happen much more easily in situations where the system is overloaded, like when everyone's calling to check on friends and relatives. Especially if capacity was reduced by damage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. The system is not overloaded

It is down. Same exact thing happened in 1985. Like most major urban centers, and this is a vulnerability, Mexico city was a single point of entrance, like the at&t room in San Fran.

The web is mostly intact so sent an email already.

[snooper2]

15. So that's why my monitor wobbled a little

[Renew Deal]

16. Where are you?

[snooper2]

17. outside Dallas

[Renew Deal]

19. And you felt the earthquake?

[snooper2]

20. not my body, but I swear my monitor moved

It could be the crickets we have in the office as well though LOL

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. We had a little jumper

Nothing on the usgs data...and it would make zero sense since the crust is much younger, therefore waves do not travel that far.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

18. Map of Location for Epicenter

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=16.6621+-98.1879(M7.6+-+OAXACA%2C+MEXICO+-+2012+March+20++18%3A02%3A48+UTC)&ll=16.6621,-98.1879&spn=2,2&f=d&t=h&hl=e

sP

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Free clue to our breathless media

While people evacuated buildings in Mexico city, they train for this by the way, a 7.6 in Mexico City has rarely done damage as first jolt, that be 1956.

And after 1985 standards were truly pumped up.

I will remind them, that lasted a minute and a half and was an 8.1.

I am sure engineers will be checking structures though. I wonder how the second floor, under construction, of the Periferico did though. Ebrad will have an excuse not to deliver on time now.

As to the small town where they might have damage, that would not surprise me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Aftershock

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude
5.1
Date-Time
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 18:35:40 UTC
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:35:40 PM at epicenter
Location
16.527°N, 98.100°W
Depth
10.1 km (6.3 miles)
Region
OAXACA, MEXICO
Distances
25 km (15 miles) NNW (340°) from Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, Mexico
38 km (24 miles) ESE (116°) from Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico
94 km (58 miles) SSW (209°) from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico
158 km (98 miles) WSW (249°) from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
197 km (122 miles) E (100°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 16.5 km (10.3 miles); depth +/- 2.1 km (1.3 miles)
Parameters
NST=170, Nph=171, Dmin=330.6 km, Rmss=1.25 sec, Gp=155°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=9
Source
Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID
usc0008m7e
Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Mexican government is placing this one at 7.8 in the Richter scale

With another at 4.86

No reports of casualties or damage yet

http://www.notimex.com.mx/admon/nota_l.php?d=1048140345&c=F

Good news, the web is not completely down, no phone service. Last time it took three days.

[cbayer]

28. Media reporting surprisingly little damage or injury.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. The construction standards, especially after 1985

are very high, they also went from zero civil defense to a very good system.

I went through a few 7.5 s in my youth with little damage and scary as hell. Anything like that will flatten LA.

Why I'd rather ride a strong one there than a weaker one here.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Some damage trickles in

This people bridge collapsed with one person injured.

http://www.prensaescrita.com/adiario.php?codigo=MEX&pagina=http://www.eluniversal.com.mx

Sorry cannot get the not impressive picture to post here.

So far minimum damage is the word. I suspect once they get to the back country in Guerrero that might change, slightly.

[malaise]

31. Good news

Thanks

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. On Malia and what she might be seeing

Classes have been suspended, authorities are scanning all municipalities for damage/ victims and both mobile and land line service is off in the state.

They had a young woman transported after she became unconscious and two aftershocks.


http://www.prensaescrita.com/adiario.php?codigo=MEX&pagina=http://www.eluniversal.com.mx
(No mention of Malia, but will not shock me if she and a bunch of tourists are evacuated).

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Some boring photos of people milling around

http://fotos.eluniversal.com.mx/coleccion/muestra_fotogaleria.html?idgal=12694

One shows civil defense at work. People holding floor placards to account for all people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Well just put on mexican news.

On the radio...no casualties, little damage, electrical service is off in some places, lights are not working, telephone service to international calls is off. Pretty much what I deduced.

On the funny side, the primary is not well attended in Illinois. Yup, that was in the report.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Ok from the mayor of the city

They are checking the metro in one section, since they have fissures

They have fissures in about fifty buildings, and they will check them within hours.

Telephone service is saturated (and not accessible to foreign calls)

They have some walls that collapsed

Some buildings are actually leaning. 37 with fissures, 6 with damage low.

Now think of this, 37 out of hundreds of thousands.

One of the buildings. The high court, they lost the stairs.

The traffic lights, they have problems with the distribution of light, in six delegations, but they are already doing repairs. They lost lines and two main transformers.

They expect to reestablished lights to most of the city in three hours tos and no human losses.

City engineers are prioritizing hospitals and schools. The hospital system is working but will be looking at some damage to check for structural damage.

Guess what they are using? Tat useless twitter.

I am sure some in our press are not happy. This was a quake, 1985 was a tragedy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. As expected, near the epicenter

Epicenter has significant material damage.

Telephone and net service are off in Acapulco.

The Cathedral was further damaged, as well as state buildings and schools and factories have let out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Well this is extremely good news

Damage is so mild that Malia (and other tourists) is staying put.

Now here is the question, why do I need to listen to Mexican media to hear the WH statement?

I won't bother even trying to answer this.

But all reports reveal little damage, though they are evacuating as a precaution, one social security clinic in Mexico city.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Telephone lines are saturated.

Over 100% usage. But things are comming back to normal.

They had local generators come on line.

So things are back, mostly, to normal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Well managed to get through

And yes the system is still pretty overloaded and all that.

Mom cannot mostly make calls yet.

Big picture phone system has been comming back.

[malaise]

42. Damage still minimal? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Yup

As I joked with mom, us media will not pay attention unless the city falls down.

But for the whole region affected, at most they are reporting 500 homes affected, and one more serious injury that was transported from Oaxaca to Acapulco...otherwise four minor injuries.

[malaise]

47. Great news

and yes as you say building codes work.