A curse, or a mere coincidence? On Monday, September 19th, around 1:05 pm on, the Mexican states of Colima and Michoacan began to shake. Earthquakes are quite common nowadays, with about 20,000 happening annually around the globe, equaling to about 55 per day. However, earthquakes don’t happen 3 different times, on the same day, over the span of 40 years, do they? 

On September 19th, 1985, Mexico city was hit with an 8.0 magnitude earthquake that completely devastated the city: knocking down buildings, leaving at least 5,000 dead(suspected to be somewhere between 5,000-45,000), and some 30,000 injured. As if that wasn’t enough, the duration of the earthquake was 3-4 minutes long, there was a 3m/9.8 ft. tall tsunami afterwards, a 7.5 magnitude aftershock the day right after, and the total costs were estimated to be at around $5 billion. The 1985 Mexico City Earthquake was said to be one of the worst, if not the worst earthquake to happen in Mexico. Ever since that fateful day, annual earthquake drills were to be held on September 19th in order to commemorate the earthquake that so heavily affected the people of Mexico.

And that’s how it was for 32 years. That is, until September of 2017 when another earthquake hit at 1:14 pm… on the same day. This time, the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and happened in the state of Puebla. It lasted for about 20 seconds, left about 360 dead and some 6,000 injured, and the total costs were estimated to be at about $8 billion. Two devastating earthquakes on the same day is ridiculous. I mean, they happened 32 years apart, and it was weird that both fell on the same day, but that’s pretty much where the similarities ended. 

However, a few days ago in September, another earthquake struck. And what day did it happen to fall on? If you guessed, September 19th, then you are 100% right. This earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.6,  happened between the states of Colima and Michocan. It killed at least two people, injured 10, and damaged about 200 buildings. What’s crazy was that it struck 46 minutes after an annual practice earthquake drill, a similar time to when it struck previously in 2017.

Some people claim that the day is cursed, and that September 19th should be feared. But for now, there’s really no scientific explanation as to why these earthquakes have been terrorizing Mexican citizens on the same day and at similar times. The most logical explanation is that Mexico is littered with fault lines, with tectonic plates shifting every day. Mini earthquakes are constantly happening around us, they’re just too small for us to feel them. It’s simply been an unlucky coincidence that these earthquakes have happened to fall on the same day, but obviously, people can’t help but wonder if there’s something else really going on. For now, it’s important to stay safe and have plans prepared should an earthquake occur. 

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