The 1985 Mexico City Earthquake was an earthquake that happened in Mexico City on September 19 , 1985 . It had a magnitude of 8.1 , and the the number of people killed added up to 10,000 deaths . The 1985 Mexico City earthquake , a magnitude 8.1 earthquake that struck Mexico on 19 September 1985 in the morning at 7:19 local time , caused the deaths of about 10,000 people and serious damage in the nation 's capital .