April 25, 1989 Earthquake: Mexico City, Acapulco

Name: April 25, 1989 Earthquake: Mexico City, Acapulco
Start: 1989-04-25
Location: Mexico City, Acapulco

April 25, 1989 · M6.8 · 3 deaths

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Mexico City, Acapulco on April 25, 1989 at 14:29:00 UTC, 19 km below the surface. It killed 3 people.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: April 25, 1989
Time: 14:29:00 UTC
Place: Mexico City, Acapulco
Magnitude: 6.8 (Ms)
Magnitude scales: Ms 6.8 · mb 6.2
Focal depth: 19 km (12 mi)
Intensity: VI, strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 16.773° N, 99.328° W
Country: Mexico
Region: North America and Hawaii
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 3
Injuries: Few (about 1 to 50)
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Three people killed, a few injured and some damage at Mexico City. Minor damage reported in the Acapulco area. Felt strongly in much of southern Mexico and as far away as Guadalajara. Depth from broadband displacement seismograms. FAULT PLANE SOLUTION: P-Waves NP1:Strike=121 Dip=77 Slip=90 NP2:Strike=301 Dip=13 Slip=90 Principal Axes: (T) Plg=58 Azm=31 (P) Plg=32 Azm=211 Comment: The focal mechanism is poorly controlled and corresponds to reverse faulting. The preferred fault plane is NP2. RADIATED ENERGY No. of sta: 9 Focal mech. C Energy 2.5+0.8*10**14 Nm CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 20S, 54C M.W.: 16S, 32C Centroid Location: Origin Time 14:29: 5.9 0.1 Lat 16.83N 0.01 Lon 99.12W 0.01 Dep 15.0 BDY Half-duration 9.0 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**19 Nm Mrr=0.73 0.01 Mtt=-0.66 0.01 Mff=-0.06 0.01 Mrt=1.94 0.04 Mrf=-1.19 0.04 Mtf=0.22 0.01 Principal Axes: (T) Val=2.40 Plg=54 Azm=36 (N) Val=-0.03 Plg=4 Azm=300 (P) Val=-2.38 Plg=36 Azm=207 Best Double Couple:Mo=2.4*10**19 NP1:Strike=276 Dip=10 Slip=66 NP2:Strike=121 Dip=81 Slip=94 GEOSCOPE MOMENT TENSOR (PAR) Dep 15.0 Half-duration 20.0 Best Double Couple:Mo=2.6*10**19 NP1:Strike=164 Dip=83 Slip=101 NP2:Strike=-73 Dip=13 Slip=33

From the USGS event page for usp0003udb. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
6.9	Mw, moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
6.86	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
6.9	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary
6.67	Me, energy	Choy, USGS energy magnitude	Reviewed

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Three people killed, a few injured and some damage at Mexico City. Minor damage reported in the Acapulco area. Felt strongly in much of southern Mexico and as for away as Guadalajara.

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
#1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1989 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1989 Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5194. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0003udb, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.