Just two days into 2026, Mexico City residents were awakened early Friday morning by a 6.5 earthquake that triggered the capital’s seismic alarm system, prompting emergency evacuations that sent people into the streets.
As of noon Friday, there had been no reports of serious damage and just one death, of a man who fell while rushing down a flight of stairs to get out of the building he lived in. Earlier, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada reported that there had been 12 people injured from the quake, with five poles and four trees downed.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, who had to suspend her daily morning press conference went the quake hit, also confirmed that the quake caused no serious damage in the capital.
However, power outages were reported across the city, including in the boroughs of Benito Juárez, Coyoacán, Cuauhtémoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Iztapalapa, Tláhuac, Venustiano Carranza and Xochimilco.
Besides Mexico City, the quake was registered across much of central and southern Mexico, a region prone to earthquakes due to the interaction of the Cocos Plate with the North American Plates.
It was especially strong in Acapulco, Guerrero, near the quake’s epicenter 15 kilometers south of San Marcos. Residents of the Pacific port and resort reported strong shaking that lasted 30 seconds. The seismic alarm triggered emergency protocols in hotels in the Golden Zone and along the bay.
The states of Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Tabasco, Veracruz and Colima also registered the earthquake, albeit more moderately, causing it to go unnoticed by many residents.
According to the National Seismological Service (SSN), the earthquake started at 7:58 a.m. and registered a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale, from a depth of 5 kilometers. The SSN said that as of 10:00 a.m., 273 aftershocks were recorded, the largest of magnitude 4.2.
Benito Juárez International Airport reported that no damage to people or facilities was identified, so operations continue as normal.
The CFE has said that its personnel are conducting inspections; reviewing substations, lines and networks; and continuously monitoring the electrical system.
Así fue el desalojo de la mañanera por el #sismo.
La presidenta @Claudiashein, muy tranquila, dejó pasar primero a los reporteros que estaban en la conferencia de prensa. pic.twitter.com/DyNIzC7iUN
— Jorge Gómez Naredo (@jgnaredo) January 2, 2026
A small fire at an electrical substation was also reported on Artículo 123 street in the Centro neighborhood of Mexico City’s Cuauhtémoc borough. Emergency services attended to the incident and no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Brugada wrote on her official X account that Civil Protection protocols were activated promptly across all 16 boroughs following the earthquake, including ground and aerial surveillance tours. Some of these efforts included the deployment of five Condor helicopters to perform an aerial assessment of the city, while personnel from the Ministry of Works and Services (SOBSE) conducted preventive inspections of strategic infrastructure.
With reports from Nmás, El Universal, Infobae, Animal Político and Milenio
