The Civil Protection and Fire Department of Puerto Vallarta alerts the population about a message circulating on networks about an alleged earthquake.
The municipal agency released this disinformation alert since the message is shared through social networks, in which they refer to a mega earthquake in Mexico and the United States in the next 48 hours.
“It’s fake,” they highlight because even the information states that both the UN and the Harvard Institute of Geophysics have warned that a “mega earthquake” will affect these nations in “the next 48 hours”, it is all a false message, since there are no methods to predict an earthquake.
“This false news has been replicated for years and always refers to a series of previous earthquakes (in the case of this latest version it speaks of “a series of earthquakes that were recorded in various parts of the world”) that are supposedly the prelude to the great earthquake”, details the Directorate of Civil Protection and Firefighters.
For this reason, the municipal agency asks the population to attend to the information generated only from official media such as the National Seismological System (SSN), the National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC), the Jalisco State Civil Protection and Fire Department Unit (UEPCBJ) and the Directorate of Civil Protection and Firefighters of Puerto Vallarta (DPCBPV).
Brief history of earthquakes in Mexico
Mexico stands out as one of the countries with the most seismic activity. In recent memory, the events of 1985 and 2017 are remembered above all, movements that caused devastation in Mexico. Despite being the most remembered, they were not the largest since modern times.
On March 28, 1787, the strongest earthquake recorded in the country occurred. Oaxaca, then the central point of the Spanish colony, was the victim of a movement of 8.6. That event was so impetuous that it was followed by a tsunami that reached 6 kilometers inland.
According to a study by the Center for Instrumentation and Seismic Recording (Cires) carried out in 2009 on the earthquake of March 28, 1787, large earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.6 or greater could occur in the coming years. These will have as their epicenter the coasts of Mexico and Central America, as they are located in the Guerrero Gap, which accumulates a large amount of energy.
However, a lower magnitude in a seismic event does not necessarily translate into a lower impact on buildings and infrastructure. Thus, in 1985 and 2017, the inhabitants of the capital, Mexico City, had to face the devastation caused by two earthquakes that became a watershed in their lives.
The one in 1985, occurred on September 19 of that year at 7:19 local time (13:19 UTC), with an epicenter in the state of Guerrero and a magnitude of 8.2. Since then, it was believed that nothing like it would be repeated, but, coincidentally, it happened again exactly 32 years later on the same date.
In 2017, it happened at 13:14 local time (18:30 UTC), with its epicenter in an area between the states of Puebla and Morelos. Then, the death toll reached 369.
The earthquake alert states that both the UN and the Harvard Institute of Geophysics have warned that a mega earthquake will affect Mexico and the . . .
