8.5 magnitude earthquake hits Oaxaca, Mexico, cutting power and sparking mysterious lights

RT
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 18:04 UTC

© Global Look Press

A building damaged during an earthquake in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state, Mexico

The death toll from an 8.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Mexico has reached at least 32, according to tallies from local authorities.

Twenty-three of the confirmed fatalities were in the state of Oaxaca, according to its governor. Seventeen of those deaths occurred in the town of Juchitan.

Seven people were killed in the state of Chiapas, where a state of emergency has been declared, according to a spokesman for emergency services cited by Reuters.

Two children were killed in neighboring Tabasco state, according to its governor. One was crushed by a collapsing wall, while the other - an infant on a respirator - died after the quake triggered a power outage in the hospital.

The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 33 km (21 miles), 123 km (76 miles) southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, not far from the Guatemalan border.

"It was a major earthquake in scale and magnitude, the strongest in the past 100 years," President Peña Nieto said in an address from the National Disaster Prevention Centre's headquarters, where he was supervising the emergency response.

The US Geological Survey reported the quake's magnitude at 8.1.

Peña Nieto said the quake was felt by 50 million of the country's 120 million residents, and was also felt in much of Guatemala, which borders Chiapas.

Waves of more than 3.3 feet (1 meter) were measured off Salina Cruz, Mexico, following the quake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Smaller waves were observed in several other locations.

Peña Nieto has warned that more aftershocks are likely, and has urged people to check their homes and offices for structural damage and gas leaks.

Officials have ordered schools in 11 states to remain closed on Friday, including in Mexico City, so officials can inspect for structural damage.

Mexico sits atop five tectonic plates, with their movement making it one of the most seismically-active countries in the world.

The most destructive earthquake to hit the country to date was in 1985, when an 8.1 magnitude quake killed more than 10,000 people in the capital, Mexico City.

Comment: Hospital ventilators failed as the earthquake struck:

The quake caused widespread power outages and as a 0.7-metre wave hit the country, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre confirmed more hazardous tsunamis were possible within three hours.

The death toll includes two children in Tabasco state.

Tabasco Govenor Arturo Nunez said one of the children died when a wall collapsed, and the other was a baby who died in a children's hospital that lost electricity, cutting off the supply to the infant's ventilator.

Earthquake lights, a commonly reported phenomenon, were seen:

One person took a video of the earthquake light phenomenon which often happens after an earthquake strikes.

Little is known about why they occur and some believe it may be as a result of power supplies being hit while others claim that they have been reported for thousands of years.

Seismologist Stephen Hicks said: 'Earthquake lights have never been proven. Simpler explanation is small explosions in electric generators and power systems.

The lights are similar to auroras and can sometimes continue for several minutes after or before the quake.

For example in 1975, the mystery lights appeared during and immediately after the main shock in the Kalapana earthquake in Hawaii.

They come in many colours and forms and people have reported seeing them for hundreds of years but only recently have scientists come a little closer to establishing why they appear.

More on the light phenonmenon:

Another explanation claims that the tectonic movement of rocks including quartz, generates a piezoelectric field which produces flashes of light.

A 2014 study said the stress of the tectonic plates can break apart pairs of negatively-charged oxygen atoms, pushing them towards the Earth's surface and forming a light-emitting plasma when it combines with air.