Incredibly, on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, Mexico was shattered by a second horrible earthquake in less than two weeks.

Earthquakes occur all the time. Most are small and go unnoticed. However, Mexico has suffered badly this month.

The first quake occurred on Thursday, September 8, and measured 8.2 on the Richter scale. Ninety people died, mostly in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Several hundred homes were severely damaged or destroyed.

September 8 was the day when Irma was classified as a Category 5 hurricane storming through the Caribbean.

The New York Times reported (emphases mine):

Over all, the earthquake — the most powerful to hit the country in a century — killed at least 61 people in Mexico, all of them in the southern part of the country that was closer to the quake’s epicenter off the Pacific Coast.

The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 8.2 and struck shortly before midnight on Thursday, was felt by tens of millions of people in Mexico and in Guatemala, where at least one person died as well.

Also:

In Mexico City, the capital, which still bears the physical and psychological scars of a devastating earthquake in 1985 that killed as many as 10,000 people, alarms sounding over loudspeakers spurred residents to flee into the streets in their pajamas.

The city seemed to convulse in terrifying waves, making street lamps and the Angel of Independence monument, the capital’s signature landmark, sway like a metronome’s pendulum.

But this time, the megalopolis emerged largely unscathed, with minor structural damage and only two of its nearly nine million people reporting injuries, neither serious, officials said.

Mexico City’s residents no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief.

However, they felt a deadly earthquake on Tuesday, which, ominously, was:

the 32nd anniversary of the tremor that killed thousands and came just two hours after earthquake drills were held across Mexico to mark the date.

Talk about a come-to-Jesus moment.

Today, the Telegraph reported that at least 217 people have died in the earthquake, which measured 7.1:

The death toll was slightly reduced, after it climbed throughout the night as rescue workers continued digging through rubble, with 21 children at a collapsed primary school among those killed …

The epicentre was Atencingo in Puebla state, around 75 miles south-east of Mexico City, and struck at a depth of 32 miles, according to the US Geological Survey, at 1.14pm local time …

President Enrique Pena Nieto urged people to stay in their homes if it was safe to do so and keep the streets free of congestion to allow emergency vehicles to pass.

Much of Mexico City is built on former lake bed, and the soil can amplify the effects of earthquakes centred hundreds of miles away.

The power is still out in many areas. Families are desperately trying to contact loved ones.

What follows is a selection of terrifying videos from Tuesday. I was surprised to see the number of passersby on the street watching to see what would happen. I realise that some buildings were evacuated, but a number of other people are just walking around amidst power lines lying in the street.

This video gets scary at the 5:08 point:

Here is another compilation:

This office building collapses in seconds:

This was the first tweet I saw:

No, it certainly was not:

This one shows a building swaying and a window or two popping out onto the street:

Look at the dust from the collapsing buildings:

Detail of all-enveloping dust:

This entire building — block of flats? — collapsed:

This was the scene on the 38th floor of one building:

It will take some time to get certain roads fixed:

Good grief:

The airport has been damaged:

This is a great animal rescue video:

Animals can sense an earthquake before people do. However, research shows that this is only seconds, rather than days, beforehand.

Earthquake watcher Dutchsinse is accurate in his predictions. I don’t follow him but saw him mentioned elsewhere. He saw this earthquake coming and warned about it. He thinks a volcano could erupt next:

Dutch explains that Mexico was ‘quiet’. Then, a few weeks ago, pressure started changing in Guatemala, travelling northward — the opposite direction seen in pressure movement — to Mexico. Now, Dutch thinks this movement will continue — possibly to southern California or eastward into the Caribbean.

He thinks something could happen on a 6.1 scale. The first Mexican earthquake was 8.1 or 8.2 (sources vary). This second one was 7.1. So, the next will be one point down on the scale.

This brings me to Wired‘s ‘Can Hurricanes Trigger Earthquakes?’ It seems so, but not in the same year. So far, research has shown a lag time of two years. There needs to be deforestation in order for that to occur and likely to be on a Caribbean island. Haiti has had the most research done. Many more studies would need to be conducted.

Here is a map of the area that Tuesday’s earthquake affected. It’s a large area, extending beyond Mexico City.

Dutchsinse warns his viewers living in a sensitive area in this part of the world to ‘be prepared’ and ‘have a plan’ for 11 days’ time.

I agree.

Whilst prepping, for those who haven’t already done so: get right with God.

The recent weather and tectonic movement have been so dramatic and unusual that I will repeat that this is a divine message. Who controls our planet? God, our Creator.

In the meantime, prayers for Mexico and condolences to the families who lost loved ones over the past two weeks.