The epicenter, onshore, was located 12 km south southeast of Vallecitos de Zaragoza.

[1] With a shallow hypocenter depth of 18.5 km, the earthquake caused extensive and widespread damage in Guerrero, including the near total destruction of campus buildings at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

Mexico is one of the most seismically active regions in the world; located at the boundary of at least three tectonic plates.

Occasionally, the contact interface or subduction zone megathrust release elastic strain during earthquakes.

[4] The earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting due to a rupture on the subduction zone near the west coast of Mexico.

Scheduled lessons resumed on 22 March 1979 at the National Polytechnic Institute College of Engineering and Physical-Mathematic Sciences, which was undamaged.

A seven-story reinforced concrete building was demolished due to the severe damage it sustained during the quake.