Another Tremor Shakes Acapulco

(Acapulco, NA 6 May) The quake that shook Acapulco yesterday morning at 8:24 local time was 5.5 on the Richter Scale at its epicenter, like the more severe of two tremors felt last week. However, the epicenter was four times farther away, so the locals judged it as much milder. Nevertheless, hotel guests and employees were startled. The rushed down the stairs and gathered outside the buildings. Minor damage was reported as bottles and dishes fell from display shelves. No personal injuries were reported. The police said that cracks appeared in the walls of the municipal jail outside Acapulco, near Ciudad Renacimiento.

This quake was centered 55 km west of Ometepec, at 11 km of depth, in an unpopulated area. Ometepec is part of the “county” of Chilpancingo.

Meanwhile the director of monitoring and analysis of these phenomena in Guerrero, Roel Ayala Mata, told the press that yesterday’s tremor brings to 214 the number of seismic events in Guerrero this year, and that represents 15% of all such episodes in Mexico. “There is a plate in Guerrero,” he said, which since 1991 has not let off any energy. All the seismologists in Mexico are paying attention to it, as it could reach magnitudes comparable to those that hit Japan earlier.”