This past week Mexico has been commemorating the 40th anniversary of the massive earthquake that struck Mexico City on September 19, 1985, leaving up to 40,000 dead, some 30,000 injured, and over five billion dollars in damage.
Amazed and glad you survived such cataclysmic destruction. I flew down from NY to Mexico City the day after the quake to write stories on the aftermath for People. Standing in the ancient Zócalo, empty and eerily silent except for occasional ambulances, sirens on, whizzing by on adjacent streets, I felt that the city had been humbled, that a history of quakes over millennia had just awakened. A sad, tragic reminder of human fragility. Your line about the city "pitching like a drunk on the lake it was built on" perfectly captures what happened.
Yes, well then you saw it, Ron. Horrendous and unforgettable. Yet it helped serve to bring the PRI's grip on power to an end. Failed government response, many tales of personal heroism instead. Rebecca Solnit writes about this in her book HOPE IN THE DARK.
I too was in CDMX that day. I was flying out early to the USA. Luckily my driver was waiting for me as I went racing down the stairs of the hotel with purse in my hands. I left all other belongings in that room.
I was told that I was on the last plane to fly out that day. It was at least two years before I returned to Mexico.
My god, I had no idea you were there during this tragedy. And yes, if you had not left to change your tickets....beautifully written piece about this terrible event. And a baby, alive, was found...where is it now, I wonder, and does it have memories....jesus, what the earth can do.....
Amazed and glad you survived such cataclysmic destruction. I flew down from NY to Mexico City the day after the quake to write stories on the aftermath for People. Standing in the ancient Zócalo, empty and eerily silent except for occasional ambulances, sirens on, whizzing by on adjacent streets, I felt that the city had been humbled, that a history of quakes over millennia had just awakened. A sad, tragic reminder of human fragility. Your line about the city "pitching like a drunk on the lake it was built on" perfectly captures what happened.
Yes, well then you saw it, Ron. Horrendous and unforgettable. Yet it helped serve to bring the PRI's grip on power to an end. Failed government response, many tales of personal heroism instead. Rebecca Solnit writes about this in her book HOPE IN THE DARK.
I too was in CDMX that day. I was flying out early to the USA. Luckily my driver was waiting for me as I went racing down the stairs of the hotel with purse in my hands. I left all other belongings in that room.
I was told that I was on the last plane to fly out that day. It was at least two years before I returned to Mexico.
Close call!
I've seen lots of pictures of the Hotel Regis, a Mexico City landmark prior to the earthquake.
My god, I had no idea you were there during this tragedy. And yes, if you had not left to change your tickets....beautifully written piece about this terrible event. And a baby, alive, was found...where is it now, I wonder, and does it have memories....jesus, what the earth can do.....