Abstract

RAMIREZ-HERRERA, Teresa  and  LUGO-HUBP, José. Effects of the earthquake (7.0=Mw) that occurred on June 15, 1999, in Puebla and neighboring States. Invest. Geog [online]. 2000, n.43, pp.32-41. ISSN 2448-7279.

A magnitude Mw=7.0 earthquake occurred 20 km south of Tehuacán, Puebla and approximately 230 km southeast of Mexico City on June 15, 1999, with its hypocenter at a depth of 80 km. The earthquake hit a large area of about 230 km in radius, including Mexico City and Puebla, causing serious damage in the city of Puebla and locations surrounding the epicenter area. Most serious damage affected an area of approximately 120 km in radius, where 17 people died and hundreds were left homeless. Field observations indicate that most of the damage caused by the earthquake were due to two factors: a) the location of the most affected towns on valleys, fluvial terraces and surfaces filled with alluvial sediments ("soft" sediments) and tuff; and b) weak adobe houses and old historical monuments (churches, convents, palaces), which are abundant in Puebla and Oaxaca that are the most vulnerable to suffer damages by earthquakes. This earthquake was a deep event and no surface faulting was associated to damage on population centers.

Keywords : Earthquake; Mixteca.