Moderate earthquake shakes buildings in Mexico City

March 2015 – MEXICO CITY – The quake hit at 4.30pm local time in the state of Puebla near Tulcingo del Valle – around 100 miles away from Mexico City. But residents of the faraway capital were forced to flee shaking buildings. The city is vulnerable to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that wiggle like jelly when earthquake waves hit it.

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said many evacuations were reported in the capital but officials received no reports of damage or injuries. The earthquake had a depth of 31 miles. A magnitude-8.1 quake in 1985 that killed at least 6,000 people and destroyed many buildings in Mexico City was centered 250 miles away on the Pacific Coast.