A massive earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.1 temblor shook central Mexico, devastating parts of Mexico City. It happened thirty-two years to the day after the deadliest quake in Mexico’s history.
There is a video that folks who’ve seen it can’t stop replaying. It’s a street scene, taken moments after the earthquake People in the video are not panicked but bewildered. their demeanor shifts from disbelief to terror as they notice a five-story apartment building creaking and crumbling.
Francisco Alanis, a correspondent with W Radio, based in Mexico City, says he is still in shock. He was a child during the 1985 earthquake, and remembers it well.
Each year, on the anniversary of the 1985 quake, Mexico holds an earthquake drill. Alanis says this year’s drill happened a few hours before Tuesday’s quake.
Alanis says authorities’ response to the earthquake, which occurred at 1:45 PM, has been effective.
“They’re doing a great job,” he says. “In the first hours after the earthquake, there was a lot of confusion. But between 5 and 6 PM, everything became much clearer. The federal government, the Mexican Army, the Marine Corps… And of course, a lot of people went outside into the streets and tried to help.”
Alanis says the current death toll in Mexico is 200. That number is expected to rise in the coming days.
Written by Shelly Brisbin.