The 1995 Chiapas earthquake occurred on October 20 at 20:38 local time. The epicenter was located in Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, in the state of
Chiapas,
Mexico, near
Tuxtla Gutiérrez.[2] It had a magnitude of
Mw 7.2,[3] or
ML 6.5.[4] Building damage was reported. Around 70 people were reported injured. In Tuxtla Gutiérrez, telephone and electricity services were momentarily interrupted.[5]
This earthquake could be felt strongly in
Mexico City and in many parts of southern Mexico. It could also be felt in
Guatemala and
El Salvador.[6] The centroid mechanism is of
thrust faulting with a small
strike-slip component. The rupture of this earthquake propagated from NW to SE over a distance of about 30 km. The duration of the rupture was about 17 seconds.[7] The earthquake was resulted from the internal deformation of the
Cocos Plate, which is
subducting beneath the
North American Plate.[8]