It met the definition of a major one, but the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck Friday in southern Mexico’s Guerrero state didn’t land the kind of punch that it might have.
“There was no way not to feel it,” Gustavo Lozano told CNN about the temblor, which struck at 9:27 a.m. (10:27 a.m. ET) and was centered 22 miles (36 kilometers) north-northwest of Tecpan. He was with his family at their home in Barra de Potosi, a fishing village nearly a three-hour drive northwest of Tecpan, when the earthquake hit. “It was extremely strong.”
Afraid of a possible tsunami, and unaware that no advisory had been issued for one, he and his family drove to a shelter at the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport, where dozens of other people also were gathering.
En route, they noticed a few walls from older buildings had collapsed, but nothing worse. Once there, they concluded they needn’t have bothered taking shelter. “It seems like the worst has already happened,” he said.
