Today Mexico remembers the 1985 earthquake. It’s been 25 years already. On Sep 19, 1985 at about: 7:19 a.m. a 8.1 magnitude quake struck causing devastation. Though disputed, the sum of 10,000 in fatal human casualties is estimated. The epicenter was located off the Pacific Coast & being that Mexico City sits on an old lake bed incredible damage resulted there. It is said to have been 3-4 billion dollar worth of damage, 412 buildings collapsed, and those that were significantly damaged sum up to 3,124 infrastructures. To make matters worse one of the areas that affected most severly happened to be one with a concentration of hospitals. Today of course the quake is a ” Trending Topic” on Twitter Mexico, again and again the same sentiment is expressed: ” In time of crisis Mexico can band together & stand in brotherhood. Charging onward with a fighting spirit! Mexico can not be kept down!”
Here are a few exerps from Wikipidea with details on the event.
“According to government figures, approximately 250,000 people lost their homes directly due to the earthquake. Unofficial sources put that figure much higher.[14] Some sources state that more than 50,000 families lost their homes, and INEGI reports that 700,000 people in the Federal District and the suburbs in the State of Mexico lost their homes.[6]“
“More than 4,000 people were rescued alive. 9,600 injured people received treatment, including 1,879 who needed hospitalization. Despite the loss of 5,000 hospital beds, there was never a shortage of facilities for the injured. Some of the reason for this was that those with postponable care were discharged, but mostly because the public and private facilities unified de-facto during the crisis.[13] There were also people rescued as late as ten days after the initial event.[17]“
The “Torre de Hospitalización” was built in 1970 with the main building being twelve stories tall. It had two wings, one facing north and the other south, with an inpatient capacity of 536 beds. At the top was a helipad. It was also surrounded by a number of other buildings belonging to the hospital complex such as a blood bank, teaching facilities, offices as well as the original convent. At the time of the earthquake, the hospital was 80% full, and it was shift change time for nurses, doctors and residents. Within minutes, the steel-frame structure collapsed, crushing and trapping many people inside.[18]
“On the other hand, the disaster created an opportunity for political opponents, especially at the grassroots level.”- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Mexico_City_earthquake
Read More about the quake:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/19/newsid_4252000/4252078.stm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-shakes-mexico-city
http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/Juniorprojects/Hopkins01/miguelo23724/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1985_09_19.php
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