A 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit off the Pacific coast of Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca at 10:29 AM local time on Tuesday, killing at least five people and generating small tsunamis. Several hospitals that were busy treating COVID-19 patients were damaged in the quake and many patients had to be evacuated. Power outages also were reported. More than 140 aftershocks, most of them small, were recorded.
Reportan caída de marquesinas en viejos edificios en Oaxaca, tras el sismo de 7.5 de este martes. pic.twitter.com/Sv6jT5viD3
— Desde Peninsula (@DesdePeninsula) June 23, 2020
Pemex, Mexico’s state-run oil company, said the quake caused a fire at its refinery in the city of Salina Cruz, relatively near the epicenter. It said one worker was injured and the flames were quickly extinguished.
Esto reportan en la refinería Salina Cruz por el #sismo de hace unas horas. pic.twitter.com/6KVSaJJtQY
— A besos entiendo : ) (@arcos_ha) June 23, 2020
The USGS said that recent earthquakes in the area have caused secondary hazards such as tsunamis and landslides.
Breaking: Video shows the ground moving during magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/OZzB3ejicU
— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) June 23, 2020
Earthquake in Mexico City- still occurring – not sure where epicenter is nor if there is any real damage pic.twitter.com/KDAou9YhPG
— (@Andalalucha) June 23, 2020
Tsunami waves of 2.2 feet were observed in Acapulco and 2.3 feet in Salina Cru. An earlier tsunami warning was revised down, according to the US Tsunami Warning System, forecasting possible waves of up to 3.3 feet. The country’s seismological service said the sea level rose 2 feet at Huatulco beach, in Oaxaca.
In 2017, two powerful earthquakes hit the country in two weeks, killing 355 people.
Mexico’s Pacific coast is located along the volatile “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines around the ocean., there have been at least seven magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes in this region of Mexico in the past 35 years, killing around 10,000 people, most of them in a 1985 8.0 quake. Mexico City is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because its very soft and wet ground amplifies shaking and is prone to liquefaction, in which dirt transforms into a dense liquid when sufficiently churned.
Such calamitous earthquakes and volcanoes have particularly powerful significance for the Biblically-minded as they are explicitly mentioned in prophecy as part of the end-of-days.
And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name and I will answer them; I will say: ‘It is My people’ and they shall say: ‘Hashem is my God.’ Zechariah 13:9
Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, a Bible codes expert, discovered a connection between earthquakes in Mexico and a remarkably appropriate verse relating to the revolt led by Korach described in the Book of Numbers.
Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder. Numbers 16:31
In addition to the coronavirus and riots, many wonder if this earthquake, coming just before the implementation of President Trump’s peace initiative transfers parts of Biblical Judea and Samaria into the hands of the Palestinians, maybe the precursor to another massive natural catastrophe of the kind that always accompanies any attempt to divide the land of Israel. This will become a possibility as Israel prepares to implement President Trump’s peace plan. Though not all of the details or implications are clear at this time, it does seem that some parts of Biblical Judea and Samaria will become part of a Palestinian political entity.
Divine retribution for dividing the land is promised by the Prophets.
And I Myself—declares Hashem—will be a wall of fire all around it, and I will be a glory inside it…For thus said the lord of Hosts—He who sent me after glory—concerning the nations that have taken you as spoil: “Whoever touches you touches the pupil of his own eye…For I will lift My hand against them, and they shall be spoil for those they enslaved.”—Then you shall know that I was sent by the lord of Hosts…In that day many nations will attach themselves to Hashem and become His people, and He will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that I was sent to you by the lord of Hosts. Hashem will take Yehuda to Himself as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will choose Yerushalayim once more. Zechariah 2:9-16
A history of the catastrophes that accompany the land-for-peace process can be found here.
