A magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook the coast of Chiapas, Mexico this Friday at 08:48 hours, with its epicenter located 135 km southwest of Ciudad Hidalgo, as confirmed by the National Seismological Service on their official account.
The earthquake, at a depth of just 10 km, was classified as shallow and was felt across much of the state, including Tapachula, a border city where over 13,000 stranded Cuban migrants are located.
The epicenter was located off the coast, very near Puerto Madero, on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, according to a report by Univisión.
As of the early afternoon, no material damage or casualties had been officially reported.
In the Chiapas capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, public buildings and offices were evacuated immediately following Civil Protection protocols.
Emergency teams surveyed the area to assess potential structural damages before allowing workers to return to the buildings.
A correspondent from Azteca Noticias in Tuxtla Gutiérrez described the magnitude of the event: "Normally, they aren't felt throughout the entire metropolitan area; however, today they were indeed felt."
In the 32 minutes following the main earthquake, at least four significant aftershocks were recorded: one with a magnitude of 4.5 at 09:09, another of 5.8 at 09:14, one of 5.2 at 09:15, and one of 6.1 at 09:20, located off the coast of Ciudad Hidalgo, Huixtla, and Mapastepec, according to information from Minuto Chiapas.
The earthquake was also clearly felt in Tapachula, where Cubans residing in the city shared their experiences of the event on social media.
"One could feel it in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. But thank God it was just a tremor," wrote a user on Facebook, in a comment on a post by the journalist José Luis Tan Estrada where he reported the earthquake.
The Tsunami Alert Center issued an alert for all coasts of Mexico and Guatemala located within a maximum radius of 300 km from the epicentral area in the Pacific Ocean. Chile and El Salvador ruled out any tsunami risk for their own coasts.
The Mexican Seismic Alert (SASMEX) was not activated, as the energy radiated in the first few seconds of the event did not reach the thresholds required for activation.
The Cuban community in Tapachula —the largest group of migrants from the island in Mexico, with over 13,000 people stranded in a state of migratory limbo— experienced the earthquake firsthand.
Many of them were deported from the United States on direct flights to Chiapas and survive under precarious conditions, without work permits or regular documentation.
The region had already experienced notable seismic activity in the days leading up to this: a tremor measuring 5.2 on July 13 with its epicenter 37 km southwest of Tapachula, and another measuring 4.3 on July 16 just three km from the city.
The south of Chiapas is situated on the subduction zone of the Cocos Plate beneath the North American Plate, one of the most active areas in the country.
The authorities are maintaining ongoing monitoring and continue to assess possible impacts in the coastal area of Soconusco.
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