Unit 5

1985 Mexico City Earthquake

This eventful disaster came in four earthquakes. On May 28th the first quake struck it was of 5.2 magnitude. Nearly four months later the most devastating quake occurred on the morning of September 19 awaking, in terror, the residents of Mexico City. This second quake was measured being  a magnitude 8.1 earthquake killing at least 10,000 people but recently experts agreed that it could have actually been around 35,000. The very next day another earthquake struck. The third quake was still very powerful it was measured a magnitude of 7.5. The last quake occurred seven months later on April 30th 1986.

The quakes struck off the Mexican Pacific Coast. The quake was felt as far as Houston, Texas and Guatemala City. Although the epicenter of the earthquake was over 200 miles away from Mexico City the capital and its outskirts were ultimately affected the most. Close to 6.000 buildings were destroyed in the capital alone.

Sadly the governments response to the earthquake was very slow. The government did not address the nation for 39 hours after the second quake on September 19, 1985. President at the time, Miguel de la Madrid offered a very weak government response to the quakes.  He first rejected several different offers of international aid playing down the seismic disaster and its damages. Since help came very slow if at all the citizens took it upon themselves and organized their own rescue units. After the earthquake the government established a series of warning systems and measures to better prepare themselves. What puzzles me is why measures were not already established since Mexico is very prone to earthquakes.

before/after

The earthquake left 250,000 people homeless according to the government but according to the Instituo Nacional de Estadistic y Georgrafia or INEGI  it was actually 700,000 people displaced of their homes in the capital alone. Most hospitals had been destroyed and temporary make shift hospitals were set up.



It is estimated that the earthquakes of 1985 cost the Mexican Government between 3 to 4 billion dollars. In the cities of Jalisco and Guzman 60 percent of their buildings were destroyed. Most of the national highways in the Mexico were affected by landslides cutting of mobile transportation for weeks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjN2eR8QzDw-Great 25 minute documentary on Earthquake

Sources

• http://www.geocritical.com/gc/Earthquakes/tabid/61/Default.aspx
• http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19850930,00.html
• http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1985_09_19.php
• http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=epicenter