Is September 19th cursed in Mexico?

People are starting to suspect that the 19th September is cursed in Mexico after the country has suffered three deadly earthquakes on that same date in three different years, in three different decades.

On Monday, a powerful earthquake hit parts of western and central Mexico and many fled into the streets as the ground began shaking at around 1:05 pm.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake was 7.6 magnitude, but Mexico’s National Seismological Service put it at a 7.7 magnitude quake.

Despite the strength of the earthquake, there was one death reported and the infrastructure held up surprisingly well with limited damage.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Officials believe the reason for the mercifully low death toll is because of where the epicentre was located. It struck a relatively sparsely populated area 250 miles southwest of Mexico City in western Michoacán state and was recorded at a depth of 9.4 miles below ground.

The earthquake on 19 September came on the anniversary of two much more server earthquakes – one in 1985 which killed thousands of people and another in 2017 in which hundreds died.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, many residents expressed their disbelief that three major earthquakes have struck on the same date.

46-year-old nurse Lourdes Trejo said: “It’s surreal how we live in this country with these earthquakes. Maybe it’s a message: We shouldn’t do anything on Sept. 19!”

María Refugio Valdés, 55, added: “I can’t believe that this happened again on Sept. 19! This time, at first I was scared, and then I began to cry. In 1985, I lost various family members.

“Thank God we lost none in 2017, and none this time. But it doesn’t seem possible! The same date.”

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.