6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico, 2 dead

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Mexico early Friday, causing buildings to sway and leaving at least two people dead in the nation's capital.

The earthquake struck early Thursday shortly after 1 am, just three days after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook western and central Mexico, killing two.

The US Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake, like Monday’s, was centred in the western state of Michoacan near the Pacific coast. The epicentre was about 29 miles (46 kilometres) south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of about 15 miles (24.1 kilometres).

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 the highway that connects Michoacan and Guerrero with the coast.

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 one woman died in a central neighbourhood when she fell down the stairs of her home. Residents were huddled in streets as seismic alarms blared.

The earthquake rattled an already jittery country. Monday's more powerful quake was the 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.