September 22, 2022 Earthquake: Mexico City, Michoacan
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Mexico City, Michoacan on September 22, 2022 at 06:16:09 UTC, 20 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
- September 22, 2022
- Time
- 06:16:09 UTC
- Place
- Mexico City, Michoacan
- Magnitude
- 6.8 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 20 km (12 mi)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 18.263° N, 102.955° W
- Country
- Mexico
- Region
- North America and Hawaii
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Deaths
- 3
- Injuries
- 5
- 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.
One person killed, one person died from a heart attack and 22 buildings damaged at Mexico City. Three people injured, several buildings damaged and power outages occurred in Michoacan.
From the USGS event page for us7000ia36. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.8 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.045 · 48 stations |
| 7.0 | Mi | NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center | Reviewed · 19 stations |
| 7.0 | Mi | NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center | Reviewed · 43 stations |
| 6.9 | Mi | NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center | First automatic solution · Reviewed · 13 stations |
| 6.7 | mb, body-wave | NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center | First automatic solution · Reviewed · 6 stations |
| 6.7 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
| 6.6 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
| 7.1 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS, automatic first solution | First automatic solution · Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
One person killed, one person died from a heart attack and 22 buildings damaged at Mexico City. Three people injured, several buildings damaged and power outages occurred in Michoacan. Arteaga, Michoacan, Mexico - CDI: 8; La Orilla, Michoacan, Mexico - CDI: 6; Totocuitlapilco, Mexico, Mexico - CDI: 6; Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico - CDI: 6; Garza García, Nuevo Leon, Mexico - CDI: 6 (reference #13456)
Two deaths (Ciudad de Mexico), 3 injuries in Coalcoman (Michoacan), damages to buildings in Uruapan. (reference #1331)
Three deaths, 5 injured (reference #1250)
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.
- #13331 Coordinacion Nacional de Proteccion Civil (Mexico) (2022). Sismo magnitud 6.9, 22 de Septiembre. Gobierno de los estados. Published 22 Sept 2022.
- #13456 U.S. Geological Survey (2017 to present). Earthquake Hazards Program, Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Comprehensive Catalog of Earthquake Events and Products.
- #1250 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) (2001). EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, link
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- September 19, 1985, Mexico City, Michoacan
- March 25, 1806, Jalisco,oaxaca,michoacan, Mexico
- May 31, 1818, Morelos-Guerrero,mexico City,guadalajara
- June 3, 1932, Near Coast of Jalisco, Mexico
- April 15, 1941, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico
- June 22, 1932, Central, Mexico
- January 30, 1973, S, Farias, Tecoman, Mexico
- October 9, 1995, Jalisco, Manzanillo, San Patricio Melaque, Mexico
- January 22, 2003, Villa DE Alvarez, Colima, Tecoman, Jalisco, Mexico
- March 14, 1979, Guerrero, Mexico
- February 22, 1943, Paricutin Volcano Forms, Guerrero, Mexico
- October 25, 1981, Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, Mexico
- September 19, 2022, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico
- January 11, 1997, Michoacan, Arteaga, Mexico
- June 7, 1911, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico City
More
Significant earthquakes of 2022The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2022Recent earthquakes near hereThis 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 10647. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event us7000ia36, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.