Today’s NYC minor earthquake brought to mind Mexico City’s 1985 earthquakes. The first registered 8.0 and the second 7.5. They were major earthquakes that killed approximately 40,000 people and ravaged the megalopolis.
I was a Mexico City-based Time correspondent when the quakes struck. During the second, I was in my fifth-floor office. I am a native Southern Californian and growing up experienced several temblors. So, I was not easily frightened by earthquakes. However, what happened in Mexico City was in another league.
Here is an excerpt from my book that recounts part of my experience.
I returned to the Time office on the fifth floor of a building on Paseo de la Reforma late in the afternoon to write my story when the second quake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, struck. Having witnessed the first quake’s destruction, I was terrified. The building was swaying, its steel girders screeching eerily. Cracks formed on the walls, and a large window in my office blew out. I ran out of the office and to the stairway. Everyone else in the office followed. The stairway was filled with many others, all rapidly descending in unison. No one was trampled or tried to shove past others. As I ran, I was convinced the building would come crashing down.
When I reached the street, my knees trembled, and my heart thumped wildly. Soon, the streets were clogged with vehicles headed out of Mexico City. Public transportation, including taxi service, was halted, and thousands of residents filled the sidewalks. Panic and fear of another earthquake had taken hold.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 