A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City and the surrounding regions Friday.
The quake was so strong that people rushed into the streets out of fear that building would collapse.
Mexican authorities said that walls cracked and fell along with the collapse of some smaller buildings but no major building collapses or deaths.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred along a fault line that was considered dormant by most geologists. However, Gavin Hayes of the USGS says the plates in the Guerrero Seismic Gap were locked, which allowed a potential build up of devastating energy.
The last quake along that fault was a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1911.
The USGS says the fault line has the potential to cause a quake that is above magnitude 8.4 and could kill more than the 9,500 people in the 1985 magnitude 8.1 Mexico City quake.
A truck containing dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station near Mexico City on Monday.
Officials with the International Atomic Energy Agency said Mexican officials informed them of the theft in a statement Wednesday.
The truck contained radioactive cobalt-60 from a hospital in Tijuana that was being transported to a waste disposal site. The IAEA said the material was properly shielded for safety when the truck was stolen but that it’s impossible to know if the thieves have breached that shielding.
“Whoever has or finds the equipment is urged not to open or damage it, as in these cases it can cause severe health problems,” the agency said.
Intelligence officials say that in the wrong hands the material could be used to make a “dirty bomb”.
A massive search is underway in six Mexican states and Mexico City. The white Volkswagen truck has been shown on TV and in newspapers with phone numbers for citizens to call if they spot it.
The Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City shook with increasingly powerful explosions that have forced the Mexican government to evacuate some residents and launch emergency measures. Continue reading →
The USGS reports that a 7.4 earthquake has hit off the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, 28 miles southwest of Champerico. Continue reading →
