Mexico City Risk Atlas: How to Check an Address Before Renting
Mexico City publishes thousands of hazard maps in one free viewer. How to look up a street before you rent, what the layers mean and what to ask the landlord.
Mexico City’s Risk Atlas (Atlas de Riesgos de la Ciudad de México) is a free online map run by the city’s Secretariat for Integrated Risk Management and Civil Protection (SGIRPC). Its hazard viewer lists ground fractures, flood scenarios, 2017 earthquake damage and other risks within 500 meters of any address.
What is the Mexico City Risk Atlas?
The atlas is the city’s official hazard database, required by the city’s civil protection law, which defines it as an information system combining the risk atlases of the 16 boroughs (alcaldías). As of its October 2026 update, the Atlas de Riesgos portal held 3,472 map layers. The layers come from city agencies, the boroughs and studies by universities and public bodies.
The portal groups the maps into modules. The one most useful to a renter is the hazard, vulnerability and exposure viewer (Análisis de peligros, vulnerabilidad y exposición). Others cover chemical emergencies, market inspections, natural events being monitored and the post-2017 reconstruction program.
How do you check an address in the atlas?
- Open the portal, go to Módulos and choose Análisis de peligros, vulnerabilidad y exposición.
- Use the address search on the left. Start with the street, then the colonia, until the right result appears.
- Click the point on the map and run the analysis. The viewer lists the hazards and exposed facilities, such as homes, schools and hospitals, within a 500-meter radius, in a table. You can also draw a polygon around a block.
- Open the layer list to switch individual maps on and off, and use the legend to read the colors.
- Use the compare tool to slide between two layers, for example a flood map and a street map.
The viewer works best on a computer. Save screenshots of the results for each address you are considering, so you can compare apartments side by side.
Which hazards does the atlas show?
The analysis viewer covers five families of hazards: geological, hydrometeorological, chemical and technological, sanitary and environmental, and social and organizational, such as crowds and protests. The table lists the sources the atlas names for some of its main layers.
| Layer | What it tells a renter | Source named by the atlas |
|---|---|---|
| Faults, fractures and vulnerability to cracking | Whether the ground near the building is known to crack or sink unevenly | IPN studies 2016 to 2017, UNAM Institute of Geosciences 2017, field surveys |
| Slope instability | Landslide risk on hillsides | Borough atlas updates, UNAM 2014 |
| Old mines | Old underground mines, where the ground can collapse | INEGI geological maps, 1:50,000 |
| Earthquakes with epicenter in the city | Local quakes recorded since 1974 | National Seismological Service, 1974 to 2024 |
| Flood scenario from failures in the Emisor drainage tunnels | Streets that could flood if the main drainage system fails | Atlas scenario layer |
| September 19, 2017 earthquake | Where buildings were damaged in that quake | Atlas scenario layer |
| REUSE emergency register | Day-to-day emergencies reported in the area | SGIRPC, 2018 to 2024 |
A hazard near an address does not mean the building is unsafe, and an empty result does not prove it is safe. The atlas is a starting point for questions to the landlord and, where needed, a professional inspection.
What are Mexico City’s seismic zones?
The city’s building rules divide the ground into three seismic zones, because shaking depends heavily on the soil. The Complementary Technical Standards for Earthquake Design (Normas Técnicas Complementarias para Diseño por Sismo) describe them as follows:
- Zone I, Lomas (hills): firm rock or soil laid down outside the old lake.
- Zone II, Transition: sandy and silty layers mixed with lake clay, with deep deposits at 20 meters or less.
- Zone III, Lake: thick layers of highly compressible clay from the old lake bed, which amplify shaking.
Many central neighborhoods popular with newcomers sit on the old lake bed, so check the zone layer for any address you consider. Buildings on Zone III can be perfectly safe if they were designed and maintained for it; the zone tells you which questions to ask.
What should you ask the landlord?
Use the atlas results to ask specific questions before you sign a lease:
- When was the building built, and has it had a structural review since the 2017 earthquake?
- Did the building suffer damage in 2017 or in any later quake, and what repairs were made?
- Who is the building’s structural engineer or the responsible construction director (Director Responsable de Obra) on record, if any?
- Does the building have a civil protection plan, marked evacuation routes and a meeting point?
- How reliable is the water supply, and does the building have a cistern and roof tanks?
Look for warning signs yourself: diagonal cracks in walls, doors that no longer close, stairs separating from walls, or a building leaning against its neighbor. If you see them, ask for an inspection by a structural engineer before committing. Our guide to renting an apartment in Mexico City covers the lease itself, and our explainer on water supply and SACMEX cuts covers the water questions.
This page explains public tools and is not an engineering assessment. Only a qualified structural engineer can judge a specific building.
Bottom line
Run each shortlisted address through the atlas viewer, save the results, and turn anything flagged into a written question for the landlord. Once you move in, learn the building’s evacuation route and read our earthquake preparedness guide.
FAQ
Is the Mexico City Risk Atlas free to use?
Yes. The portal at atlas.cdmx.gob.mx is public and free, with no registration needed to view the maps. Some layers can also be downloaded from the portal’s downloads section.
Can the atlas tell me if a specific building is safe?
No. It shows hazards in an area, such as ground cracks or flood scenarios, not the condition of an individual building. A structural engineer has to inspect the building itself.
Which boroughs have atlases of their own?
All 16 boroughs prepare risk atlases, and the city atlas combines them. The portal’s Alcaldías section groups information by borough.
How often is the atlas updated?
The portal shows the date of its last update on the home page; in November 2026 it showed an update from September 24, 2026. Individual layers come from studies of different years, listed in the viewer.
