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Northwest Mexico Rocked by a Series of Earthquakes

A series of strong earthquakes rocked northwestern Mexico’s Gulf of California region on Sunday, with the most powerful temblor having a magnitude of 6.7, but no injuries have been reported, officials said.

 A series of strong earthquakes rocked northwestern Mexico’s Gulf of California region on Sunday, with the most powerful temblor having a magnitude of 6.7, but no injuries have been reported, officials said.

The magnitude-6.7 quake occurred at 3:14 a.m. about 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Los Mochis, a city in Sinaloa state, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), the National Seismology Service said.

The temblor was felt in the states of Sinaloa and Baja California Sur.

Five other earthquakes, with magnitudes ranging from 4.2 to 5.3, were also registered in the region.

Two of the quakes were registered before the magnitude-6.7 quake and three after.

National emergency management office chief Luis Felipe Puente said in a Twitter post that there were no reports of damage and the quakes were “just slightly” felt.

On Saturday, Mexico City’s government conducted a test of the Seismic Warning System, which uses loudspeakers, in an effort to familiarize residents with the sound of alerts.

The system’s 8,200 loudspeakers, located across the capital’s 16 boroughs, emitted the alert at noon.

The public had been notified of the test to avoid a panic and no practice evacuations were conducted.

Mexico City’s government plans to activate the Seismic Warning System on Sept. 19, the 30th anniversary of the temblor that devastated the capital.

A national earthquake simulation will be staged on that date, with 80,000 public employees, 26 government agencies and the Federal Police participating.

The Seismic Warning System gives Mexico City residents a 50-second alert to prevent a repetition of the tragedy that occurred 30 years ago.

The warning is generated by sensors along the Pacific coast, located about 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) from the capital, giving residents time to get out of buildings that could collapse in a temblor.

Mexico, one of the countries with the highest levels of seismic activity in the world, sits on the North American tectonic plate and is surrounded by three other plates in the Pacific: the Rivera microplate, at the mouth of the Gulf of California; the Pacific plate; and the Cocos plate.

The Cocos tectonic plate stretches from Colima state south and has the potential to cause the most damage since it affects Mexico City, which has a population of 20 million and was constructed over what was once Lake Texcoco.

The magnitude-8.1 earthquake that hit Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, was the most destructive to ever hit Mexico, killing some 10,000 people, injuring more than 40,000 others and leaving 80,000 people homeless.

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