2018 Oaxaca earthquake

File:2018 Oaxaca earthquake.svg

File:2018 Oaxaca earthquake map.svg

Oaxaca lies on the destructive plate boundary where the Cocos plate is being subducted beneath the North American plate. In the region of this earthquake, the Cocos plate moves approximately northeastward at a rate of 60 mm/yr. The earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting at a shallow depth. The depth and focal mechanism solutions of the event are consistent with its occurrence on the subduction zone interface between these plates, approximately 90 km northeast of the Middle America Trench.

Historically, several significant earthquakes have occurred along the southern coast of Mexico. In 1932, a M 8.4 megathrust earthquake struck in the region of Jalisco, several hundred kilometers to the northwest of the Oaxaca event. On October 9, 1995, a M 8.0 earthquake struck in the Colima-Jalisco region, resulting in at least 49 fatalities and leaving 1,000 people homeless. The deadliest nearby earthquake occurred on September 19, 1985, in the Michoacán region 500 km to the northwest of the February 16th event. This M 8.0 earthquake resulted in at least 9,500 fatalities, injured about 30,000 people, and left 100,000 people homeless. In 2003, a M 7.6 earthquake in Colima, Mexico, resulted in 29 fatalities, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and left more than 10,000 people homeless. In March 2012, a M 7.4 earthquake 60 km to the northwest of the February 16, 2018, event killed 2 and injured 11 in the Oaxaca region. The hypocenter of the M 8.2 earthquake off the shore of Chiapas in September 2017 was located 440 km southwest of this earthquake. The Chiapas event caused at least 78 fatalities and 250 injuries in Oaxaca, and a further 16 deaths in Chiapas. Eleven days later, a M 7.1 earthquake struck closer to Mexico City, 230 km northeast of today's earthquake, resulting in over 300 fatalities and significant damage in Mexico City and the surrounding region.

A second quake, registering 5.9, struck Oaxaca on February 19, 2018, around 12:57 AM local time. The quake, believed to be an aftershock, had an epicenter about 69 miles southwest of Oaxaca City; its impact was registered in Mexico City. No deaths were reported from this quake.{{cite web | url = http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-aftershock-20180219-story.html | title = 5.9 quake hits southern Mexico, but no damage reported | website = Los Angeles Times | agency = Associated Press | date = February 19, 2018 | accessdate = February 19, 2018 }}

{{Infobox Aircraft accident

|name = 2018 Mexican Air Force Sikorsky UH-60M crash

|image = File:A U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment prepares to land at Grayling Airfield in Grayling, Mich., Aug. 3, 2013, during Northern Strike 130803-Z-GS745-033.jpg

|image_size = 200

|caption = A UH-60M, owned by the United States Army, similar to the one involved in the accident

|date = {{start date text|February 16, 2018}}

|type =

|occurrence_type = Accident

|site = Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca State, Mexico

|coords =

|aircraft_type = Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk

|aircraft_name =

|summary = Loss of control on landing

|operator = Mexican Air Force

|tail_number = 1071

|origin =

|stopover =

|stopover0 =

|stopover1 =

|stopover2 =

|stopover3 =

|last_stopover =

|destination =

|passengers = 3

|crew = 1

|injuries = 0

|ground_injuries = 15

|ground_fatalities = 14

|fatalities = 0

|survivors = 4

}}

Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, the Governor of Oaxaca, was in Tuxtepec at the time the earthquake struck and immediately left to survey the damage in Pinotepa Nacional with Alfonso Navarrete Prida, who had become the Secretary of the Interior the month before.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43098891|publisher=BBC News|date=17 February 2018|accessdate=17 February 2018|title=Mexico earthquake: Helicopter crashes in emergency killing 14}}{{cite news|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/13-killed-in-helicopter-crash-after-mexico-earthquake-1.512304|work=Stars and Stripes|agency=Associated Press|title=13 killed in helicopter crash after Mexico earthquake|date=17 February 2018|access-date=2018-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217221038/https://www.stripes.com/news/13-killed-in-helicopter-crash-after-mexico-earthquake-1.512304|archive-date=2018-02-17|url-status=dead}} The Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk military helicopter in which Murat and Navarrete, along with the state head of civil protection and one other person, were traveling, crashed in Santiago Jamiltepec while attempting to land nearby when the pilot lost control of the aircraft. The helicopter crashed on two cars that were parked in a field, where a family was spending the night outside after the earthquake. A total of 14 people, all of them on the ground, were killed, and 15 others were injured. All four people on board the helicopter survived unharmed.{{cite web|title=ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 206271|url=https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=206271|website=Aviation Safety Network|accessdate=18 February 2018}}

• List of earthquakes in 2018
• List of earthquakes in Mexico

• {{EQ-isc-link|611835996}}

{{Earthquakes in 2018}}

{{Earthquakes in Mexico}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2018}}

Category:2018 earthquakes

Category:Earthquakes in Mexico

Category:February 2018 in Mexico

Category:History of Oaxaca

Category:2018 disasters in Mexico