Atypical earthquake jolts Monterrey metro area

Residents of the Monterrey metropolitan country successful bluish Mexico experienced a uncommon improvement connected Sunday evening — an earthquake.

About a half-hour aft sundown successful Mexico’s second-biggest metro area, a insignificant temblor jolted immoderate residents retired of their homes. Reports of the magnitude of the earthquake ranged from 4.3 connected the Richter standard to 4.6, with Mexico’s National Seismology Service reporting it astatine 4.5.

🚨 ASI SE VIVIÓ EL SISMO EN MONTERREY 🚨
Hoy a las 7:26 p.m. se registró un #Sismo de 4.5 a 18km de distancia de #Monterrey.
😭
Al parecer, fue un desplazamiento de 3 km en una placa tectónica de manera abrupta.
😱
Varios usuarios en redes han compartido videos del sismo.
😳#RT… pic.twitter.com/3Ce9IXeWdX

— Porque es tendencia en México (@XQestendenciaMX) May 12, 2025

Erik Cavazos, manager of the Nuevo León authorities Civil Protection Ministry, told Milenio TV that the temblor did not origin immoderate noticeable damage.

Cavazos said officials were carrying retired inspections crossed the region, adding that his bureau would proceed to show the concern successful practice with municipal agencies.

The tremor’s epicenter was recorded astatine a extent of astir 5 kilometers adjacent the municipality of Montemorelos, astir 70 kilometers southeast of Monterrey. It was felt successful astatine slightest 22 municipalities including San Pedro, Apodaca, San Nicolás, Escobedo, Monterrey, Juárez, Guadalupe and Cadereyta.

Some residents compared the quake to a tiny explosion. Others said it felt much similar a persistent compartment telephone vibration.

The lawsuit besides prompted a plethora of memes, mostly mocking Nuevo León residents’ comparative unfamiliarity with earthquakes, particularly erstwhile compared with Mexico City chilangos, for whom the show of shaking structures is somewhat common. (In the nationalist earthquake drill past April 28, immoderate 15,000 louspeakers blared arnings successful 10 states, nary of which were Nuevo León.)

One TikTok relationship adjacent created a quake-themed corrido, a accepted Mexican communicative ballad.

Although Monterrey technically lies successful a seismic zone, it is considered debased risk. The geological portion known arsenic the Curvature of Monterrey — a important crook oregon curve successful the operation of the Sierra Madre Oriental upland scope to the westbound of the Monterrey metro country — is associated with a analyzable signifier of folding and faulting, including large folds and thrust faults. 

Think Hazard, a web-based instrumentality utilized by the World Bank to measure catastrophe risks successful improvement projects, says determination is a 2% accidental that Monterrey volition acquisition a “potentially damaging earthquake” successful the adjacent 50 years. By comparison, the probability rises to 10% successful Mexico City.

Earthquakes successful Mexico’s northeast portion seldom transcend 4.8 connected the Richter scale, according to Think Hazard.

Sunday’s lawsuit was the 19th temblor with an epicenter successful Nuevo León implicit the past 21 years, but nary had registered supra 4.4 connected the Richter scale, according to EarthquakeTrack.com.

To enactment that successful context, the National Seismology Service recorded 23 earthquakes ranging from magnitude 2.7 to 4.0 crossed Mexico betwixt midnight and 9:05 a.m. connected Monday. 

However, astatine slightest 3 insignificant aftershocks with an epicenter successful Montemorelos were registered implicit the consequent 9 hours, according to EarthquakeList.org — the archetypal astir 2 hours aft the archetypal quake (magnitude 3.8), the 2nd astatine 3:21 a.m. Monday (magnitude 3.5) and the 3rd astatine 4:16 a.m. (magnitude 3.7).

Additionally, tremors from Sunday’s earthquake were felt much than 300 miles to the north successful the Rio Grande Valley crossed the borderline successful Texas. 

With reports from Milenio, N+ and El Norte