Michoacán, Mexico Earthquake

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Posting Date: August 11, 2006, 9:50:00 AM

A moderate earthquake struck near the town of Huetamo in Michoacán, Mexico on Friday, August 11, 2006 at 14:31 UTC (9:31 AM local time). The USGS estimates the moment magnitude at 5.9 and the focal depth at 95 km (59 miles). The earthquake was centered 204 km (126 miles) west-southwest of Mexico City. Early reports indicate the buildings in the capital swayed and that hundreds of people fled into the streets. However, no significant damage has been reported in the city. Mexico City, the center of which is built on an old lakebed characterized by soft alluvial deposits, has some of the most pronounced soil amplification effects known. The depth and the epicentral location of today’s earthquake suggest an intraslab event rupturing part of the Cocos plate. The seismicity of this area, and in Mexico in general, is dominated by the convergence and the subduction of the Cocos plate beneath the North American plate at a rate of about 5.5 – 6.5 cm/yr. Since 1942, there have been eight earthquakes of magnitude larger than 5.0 within a 50 km radius of this earthquake and deeper than 60 km. Because of the depth of this earthquake and the fact that it occurred in a sparsely populated region, the AIR earthquake team expects losses to be minimal.

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Posting Date: August 11, 2006, 9:50:00 AM